Betagro Group is set to start exporting premium pork products to Japan in early 2010 as part of a new venture with Japanese partners, reports the Bangkok Post. The company is working with Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. to launch a processing plant for swine bred in a specific-pathogen-free system, and it has joined with the Japanese Ajinomoto Group to create cooked, frozen products from specific-pathogen-free pigs.
Betagro oversees Thailand’s only specific-pathogen-free pork operation and expects it to bring in ฿500M annually by 2012, mostly from exports to Japan, according to the Bangkok Post.
The recent discovery of a pig with H1N1 on a Saraburi province farm, which is not associated with Betagro, will not affect Betagro’s export plans, company officials said.