OSI Group, LLC celebrated the grand opening of its ninth and tenth processing plants in China on 19 October 2013.

These include a multi-protein further processing (FP) facility and an adjacent, integrated poultry operation in Xihua, Henan Province. Both plants utilise the latest processing technology for optimal efficiency and quality output. In keeping with OSI's commitment to sustainability, the further processing facility is LEED certified - one of the first such plants in China. OSI's China facilities have HACCP and ISO 22000 certifications and employ the latest in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

The FP plant will process poultry and beef products for chain account customers in China and also ship to select export markets. Designed to become OSI's largest food processing facility globally, the two-phase FP facility will measure 208,000 square metres, or more than 2.2 million square feet when fully completed in 2016.

The DaOSI slaughter plant will also be OSI's largest integrated poultry operation globally, spanning over 36,500 square metres, or nearly 400,000 square feet. The overall investment in these operations exceeds US$300 million.

Phase I of the FP plant will process par-fried and fully cooked chicken products, taking advantage of fresh raw material supplied from the adjacent DaOSI poultry operation, and employ nearly 500 workers. Phase II, which will be operational by 2016, will include additional high speed lines and expand the plant's product capabilities to value-added beef.

DaOSI is a joint venture company between OSI and Doyoo Group, a leading Chinese poultry company. This Halal-certified plant has designed capacity to process 120 million birds per year, making it the largest, single facility poultry operation in China. As a fully integrated operation, this includes 100 per cent company-owned breeder and broiler farms, a hatchery and a feed mill capable of producing 800,000 tons of feed annually.

The opening of the Henan operation marks OSI's third fully vertically-integrated poultry operation in China, joining those in Shandong and Fujian provinces. With this addition in central China, OSI will be on track to process more than 300 million birds per year and be a leading national player, spanning geographies of the north, central and south of the country.

"In total, OSI Henan will become the largest further processing facility for value-added meat in all of Asia," said Brent Afman, senior vice president and managing director for OSI's Asia Pacific region. "OSI Henan will have the capability to support our valued customers' growth plans for years to come."

OSI President and Chief Operating Office, David McDonald, added: "We have invested a great deal in China and are quite appreciative of the growth here. There is no other place in the world growing as quickly as China, and we feel fortunate to be a part of it. We look at China as the number one growth effort among all of our global activities."

OSI has been operating in China since opening its first factory in Beijing in 1992. In addition to these integrated poultry facilities and two existing protein further-processing plants, the company also operates four produce plants and a dough operation here. Additionally, OSI has facilities in India, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia, and expects to employ nearly 10,000 people throughout the Asia Pacific region by the end of 2013. OSI's investment in vertically integrated poultry in China exceeds US$500 million.