Thailand’s leading F&B manufacturing company Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) has invited startups to create meat-like alternatives that resemble real beef. Dubbed CPF Innovation Challenge, the initiative is aimed at finding companies that can offer the best technologies to give meat alternatives a more complex taste.
Startups presenting solutions and technologies that meet the highest standards will have the chance to promote their innovation as commercial plant-based meat products while expanding their capacity into the global market.
In parallel, CPF is currently exploring cage-free egg production to meet the increasing concerns about animal welfare. CPF is applying the EU cage-free standard at Wang Somboon farm, the first company to do so in Thailand. British retailer Tesco announced that, in Thailand, it will sell only cage-free eggs by 2030.
At present, CPF produces around 10 million cage-free eggs a year but could raise this figure to 35 million based on the current capacity of Wang Somboon farm. Cage-free production comes at a cost. It allows for 8 times fewer birds that can be housed in the same space than with convention battery cage production.
(Sources: The Bangkok Post; Poultry World)
