Oman: A’saffa Foods ensures consumers buy with trust and confidence

A’Saffa Foods, Oman’s leading producer of poultry products, is assuring its customers they can buy with confidence when they purchase one of their increasingly diverse range of food products here in the Sultanate thanks to the use of internationally certified processing systems.

When the company set up its operations at Thumrait in the south of Oman in 2003, A’Saffa from the very outset committed itself to implementing the most modern and sophisticated poultry farming systems and processes.

As a result the plant, that is HACCP certified to the highest international standards for its food quality and hygiene, uses the very best-in-class technology and equipment, and it today recognised as among the most advanced units of its kind in the GCC with an operational capacity of up to 4000 birds per hour.

In addition the company has also secured the prestigious ISO 9001 Total Quality Management System and ISO 14001 Environmental Management System for its operations that are consistently identified as some of the best in the region.

The quality of the operations from A’Saffa is being increasingly recognised in the region leading to the company operating as a consultant to help set up other poultry manufacturing and processing operations in the region such as the partnership with Hassad Foods in Qatar.

A’Saffa Foods Head Sales and Marketing Sidhartha Lenka says, “We are immensely proud of the world class quality and systems that we have in place to ensure that our food processing is of the highest quality and can ensure that consumers across Oman can buy our chicken and other products with full confidence.”

“When it comes to buying food for the family, it is essential for our customers to know they can buy our products in the knowledge that it has been produced in conditions that can match any in the world – with the added benefits of its 100% pure Halal production and great taste thanks to our systems and natural feed we give our chickens,” Lenka added.

One of the reasons for the remote desert location near Thumrait is to ensure the most stringent “bio-security” measures are in place at the A’Saffa farms and processing facilities.

Placing the farms far away from human habitation, migratory bird routes and from other developments enables the company to minimise any potential risk of contamination or disease impacting on the farms that are located across a 40 square kilometre site.

Each of the farms on the site are also separated and have strict access regulations for both vehicles and individuals – who need to go through disinfected small baths with the wheels of the vehicle or feet before entering any facility.

The farms are also high tech and each individual farm is a specially environmentally controlled shed broiler shed that has been developed to stringent European Community standards.

These are the first technologically advanced sheds of their kind in Oman, and have a capacity to house 32,500 chickens and each farm is automatically controlled through advanced climate control systems. Optimal temperatures and humidity levels are programmed into the system and it maintains the conditions round the clock. In addition, the entire feeding and watering systems are fully automated. The entire farm is operated and controlled from a single computer-based system.

To ensure the well being of the chickens and to check on their condition and any potential hazards, A’Saffa also employs a full team of medical specialists on the site who have extensive international experience of working with farm animals.

Mr. Lenka added, “We have made sure that we have made the largest investment of its kind in to the provision of world class poultry manufacturing facilities here in Oman. A’Saffa was determined to make sure we made the right level of investment to deliver the highest standards of quality – not only at the Omani and regional level but internationally. That investment has been rewarded by our growth as the largest poultry producer in Oman with a market share set to increase towards 35% and a rapidly growing export market and an expansion and growth into other quality food products.”

In 2010 the company marked its change of name from A’Saffa Poultry to A’Saffa Foods with the introduction of the Khayrat brand which has launched a new range of beef burgers and frozen vegetables.