A world-class egg production facility

MANILA, Philippines –  Bounty Farms Inc., the country’s lar-gest and most modern layer-integrator and a division of the Bounty Fresh Group of Companies in the Philippines, impressed the local media recently via a tour of its sprawling facility touted as the most modern, safest and cleanest in the country.

The one-of-a-kind, world-class facility found at Sitio Madera, Barangay Bamban, Capas, Tarlac, uses the latest and most innovative processing technologies available for housing layer hens and egg harvesting and processing. These capabilities were showcased to the media to show them how layer and egg production should be done based on globally-accepted standards on quality, food safety and manufacturing efficiency.

As soon as they arrived at the farm, the media, mostly Lifestyle, Agriculture and Business section reporters and editors from various broadsheets and magazines, including those from the radio and television were given a sample of how the facility maintains its cleanliness through the hand wash and foot dip station located at the farm’s main gate. There, they washed their hands thoroughly and dipped their footwear in a chemically-treated foot puddle as a preliminary sanitation procedure. Even the tires of the vehicles used by the media in going to the farm were sprayed with chemicals upon entry to eliminate bacteria and other contaminants that may cause animal-related diseases such as A(H5N1) or “avian flu,

After brief welcoming ceremonies, a short corporate presentation about Bounty Farms, Inc. and briefing on the sanitation and decontamination procedures, the group immediately proceeded with the tour escorted by Bounty Farms, Inc. officials led by Edric Chen, marketing manager of Bouny Farms Inc., and other farm personnel.

First stop was the egg processing plant or EPP. Before entering the EPP, the media again washed their hands a liquid hand cleaning agent treated with chlorine, and a bigger foot dip area, and asked to wear sanitized clothing, rubber boost and face masks to maintain a bacteria-free facility.

As soon as they entered the EPP, the media marveled at how Bounty Farms, Inc. employs the latest top-of-the-line equipment in the processing of Bounty Farms’ famous Specialty and Premium eggs. They were all visibly amazed during the time the eggs arrived at the EPP via the “Anaconda’ conveyor, which is connected to all the chicken houses inside the farm.

Once the eggs the EPP, they pass through the “grading” equipment called “Moba,” an egg-grading machine imported from Germany. The eggs then proceed to the “reversing” section, where each egg is “reversed” with the pointed section placed right side up for easier handling.

Next, the eggs proceed to the “candling” area where they pass through a brightly-lit section and are checked by EPP personnel for fine hair-line cracks usually unseen by the human eye. Eggs found with cracks are then separated from the good ones. Then on to the grading/weighing section to segregate the eggs based on size and weight and on to the separate “take-away” slots where the eggs are packed in either plastic or carton trays, each tray segregate based on size. Now, the eggs are ready for dispatching to Bounty Farms’ several institutional and consumer clients.

As for the chicken houses, only a few members of the media managed to enter since human entry is very limited so as not to stress the chicken to much. There, the media marveled at how efficiently the chicken houses are managed, from feeding to egg transporting to manure collection and lighting. Feeds are fed through a “feeding” silo” for even and untouched distribution. Eggs are transported through conveyor belts leading to the larger “anaconda” conveyor while manure under the chicken cages is collected automatically using an evaporative cooling system and are also equipped with an Automatic Lighting System to control lighting level, the first among commercial layer farms in the Philippines.

Overall, it was a fun experience for the media, and a good time for Bounty Farms, Inc. to show them that the Philippines is truly capable of putting up modern egg processing facilities that can rival even those in developed countries. “We are proud to have used modern technology in our farm operations. Our state-of-the-art technologies help ensure a better table eggs farm in terms of safety and sanitation through biosecurity and hygiene measures, better operational efficiency, and production of eggs that are of the utmost quality where consumers get value for their money because they are superior then most eggs found in the market in terms of health benefits. We are glad to showcase to the media our facilities, just to show that we are serious in our objective of providing the market with top-quality table egg products,” said Chen.