The UAE's food processing industry is set to have a profile upgrade with the announcement by Co-op Islami of several new initiatives including a factory project.
The company said recently it would set up a Dh15 million ($4.08 million) factory in the Jebel Ali Free Zone and that it had appointed a Danish consultant. The new plant, expected to be ready in three years, will produce seafood, meat, and canned and ready-to-eat food.
The company has introduced special products for children and launched a catering company named Emdad. It will soon set up a subsidiary called Co-Op Islami International to deal with its overseas interests. Exports currently amount to 30 per cent of the turnover and are targeted to reach 50 per cent.
The company has gained prominence as a supplier of halal products to hotels supermarkets and as an exporter since being set up by the Dubai Co-operative Society in 1981. It recently installed a new production line with a capacity to produce 30,000 tonnes of chicken products per day at its Jebel Ali factory while additional equipment is being installed there to raise production beyond that figure.
"The new business initiatives announced during the exhibition are aimed at further strengthening the company's leadership position in the provision of real halal products throughout the region," said managing director Saleh Saeed Lootah.
The new products for children are being marketed as the Aladdin range, named after the famous Middle Eastern character in fiction. Lootah said research his company had conducted showed that children were increasingly important in influencing purchasing decisions, prompting it to create a special range for them. The announcement of the Aladdin range and Emdad was made at the Gulfood 2003 show in late February. The company described the Aladdin line as the first complete range of frozen food for children to be introduced to the Gulf.
The packaging for the first five products in the range features colourful cartoon characters. The launch range comprises "Dino" chicken nuggets, crazy shapes chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken and beef and chicken burgers. The nuggets have been designed in dinosaur and other shapes. "Aladdin is a universally known character renowned for making wishes come true," said Lootah.
About Emdad, Co-op Islami's new catering subsidiary, Lootah said it would provide speedy and efficient door-to-door food services backed by a large fleet of refrigerated trucks.
Emdad's range of products and services include fresh and frozen meat covering chicken, beef and mutton, seafood, canned and chilled meats, a variety of cheeses and beverages as well as disposable and non-disposable crockery and cutlery, paper and packaging products
Co-Op Islami was among several companies that participated in Gulfood 2003. The company's stand included a small kitchen area where cooking demonstrations with Co-Op Islami products were held and visitors served with the preparations.
Lootah said the company was delighted with the great interest Co-Op Islami products generated. "We are currently processing numerous queries from visitors, particularly on exports of Co-Op Islami products to new markets. We are also looking into a suggestion made by certain customers that we enter into strategic partnerships for opening logistics and manufacturing centres in new markets for the mutual benefit of the two sides."
According to Lootah, people from new markets such as the UK, Iran, Holland and Algeria have made enquiries while the company is also looking into the possibility of exporting to the US. He said export enquiries had also been received from parties in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Armenia.
"The exhibition provided Co-Op Islami officials the opportunity to meet and discuss future business trends and terms with the company's suppliers from the UK, Brazil, Australia, Cyprus and Austria and prospective suppliers from Turkey, Holland and Egypt on new Co-Op Islami products to be launched," Lootah said.
Chicken remains the biggest segment of the Co-Op Islami product range. According to the company, the chicken products it sells are made from birds raised from 100 per cent natural grain feed while most other chicken farms use animal feed.
The company's commitment to quality was recognised when it became the only factory in the UAE to achieve HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point) certification in 2001 following on from the award of ISO9001 and other certifications.
