Moy Park is to invest £4m (€5.1m) in its next generation ‘ready to eat’ facilities in Craigavon, Co. Armagh.
According to the poultry company, the ‘ready to eat’ cooked chicken category represents a key growth area.
The investment is to enhance production capabilities and allow for continued innovation in this fast moving category.
Keith Irvine, Moy Park’s Supply Chain Director, said that Moy Park is committed to growing the business through investment in both its industry leading farming and operational facilities.
“This investment further cements the company’s position as one of the most advanced producers of ‘ready to eat’ products in the UK and Europe as it enhances our ability to satisfy consumer demand for increasingly innovative, healthy, convenient and tasty products.”
This latest investment will see advanced continuous in-line oven cooking and chilling technology installed at Moy Park’s Craigavon facilities and will also deliver energy and process efficiencies.
The development at Craigavon follows a £20m investment in Moy Park’s Dungannon facility which was announced in late 2015.
Moy Park announced that the investment at Dungannon has significantly enhanced production capabilities to become one of the most advanced processing plants in Europe.
This investment programme has seen production increase significantly at Dungannon from 1.3m to 1.8m birds per week; a figure which will increase to 2.3m birds per week upon full completion, Moy Park says.