Few brands in processed meat products are as recognisable in the Gulf as Sadia of Brazil, which has carefully tailored its production to meet the specific needs of the region’s consumers in terms of flavour, ingredients and religious sensitivities.

What has endeared Sadia to many religious-minded customers is its attention to halal products.  The company maintains slaughterhouses specifically for the production of halal products with a permanent staff of Islamic bleeders.
The halal slaughtering and production activities are uninterruptedly supervised by members of the Latin American Islamic Council, which also issues the certificates that accompany the products attesting that they fully comply with the established Islamic Law’s precepts,” a company spokesman says.
“Constantly, Sadia receives religious missions coming from various Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait, among others, where the highest religious authorities approve our processes and recommend the Sadia product for every Islamic consumer.”
 Currently, Sadia has become the main brand for poultry in the Middle East.
The company first began exporting in 1967 and since then has grown to supplying 65 different markets mainly in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Americas.
It boasts a range of 2,500 products including those in poultry, cooked meats, cold cuts in general, sausages, hamburgers, lasagna, ravioli and other types of pasta, pre-cooked meat-based meals, creamy margarines, pizzas, soups and desserts.
“Sadia has not only amassed over 60 years of experience and state-of-the-art technology, but it also utilises carefully selected ingredients and raw materials for the development of delicious food products,” the spokesman says.
With 14 distribution centres in Brazil and commercial offices in England, Italy, the UAE, Japan, China, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, the company is able to maintain an efficient supply network covering its important markets.” In this way, Sadia guarantees that their products will always be delicious and fresh when delivered to consumers all over the world,” it says.
In April, 2002, Sadia was re-certified with the 2000 version certificate ISO 9001– the most updated version of the 9001 norms – by the Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI).
ISO 9001 is an international norm that approves and validates the quality management and certifies the process that generates the products. The re-certification of Sadia covers the development, production, and commercialisation of natural products and industrialised chicken, turkey and vegetables to the market abroad.
Sadia’s cold storage plant in Chapecó, received the certification at the end of 1995, becoming the first Brazilian cold storage plant to receive the ISO 9001 certificate.
“Within the concept of sustained development, Sadia believes that environmental management is crucial to the continued existence of our activities,” the spokesman comments.
“This way, Sadia is committed to the harmonic coexistence with the environment. For that, our corporate posture is based on a firm commitment to the following:
• A relentless quest for improvement to the processes to avoid polluting the environment;
• Carrying out the environmental legislation currently in force, together with the standards and other environmental requirements applicable to the respective processes;
• Usage of natural resources in a sensible way;
• Making all companies and individuals involved in the processes more conscientious about environment issues;
• Actively contributing to increasing environmental awareness on the part of the local community.”
In Brazil, the ISO 14000 started in 1996 and, according to the BVQI, about a hundred companies currently have their certificate of environmental quality - and Sadia is among them.
Farms supplying poultry to Sadia’s primary processing plants are required by contract to adhere to certain procedures. Through the Farmer’s Integration System, the farmers and their agricultural staff should be trained in the correct procedures. They should be monitored by veterinarians who visit and inspect the farm sites regularly. The veterinarians are responsible for checking standards, training all staff involved and controlling poultry in every step of the process from preparation, cleaning and disinfecting routines, until they reach the reception area in the primary plants.
Sadia says the farms are also required to follow the Manual for Animal Welfare in Poultry Growing Farms which specifies the following freedoms for the animals: the right to quench hunger and thirst, the right for comfort, the right not to suffer, the right to express natural behavior and the right to feel no anguish or fear.
The company was in the news recently when it announced it had acquired all the shares of Só Frango Produtos Alimentícios Ltda. The transaction was worth $26.5 million, to be paid with the company’s own resources. Sadia assumed control of Só Frango’s operations on January 3rd, 2005.
 Initially, Sadia had offered Só Frango a partnership similar to other existing partnership agreements it has with Globoaves and Minuano. Under this proposal, Sadia would purchase 100,000 of the 150,000 birds slaughtered daily by the company, headquartered in Brasília. “However, due to the investment needs to enable Só Frango to comply with this demand, the negotiation evolved into an acquisition,” the spokesman said.
 Só Frango is active in poultry slaughtering and processing as well as in the production of animal feed meal. Its product line ranges from whole chicken, special frozen and chilled cuts to sausages and cold cut meats.
 With 1,700 employees, Só Frango is expected to post R$ 220 million on gross revenues in 2004 and a slaughtering capacity of 150 thousand birds/day. Sadia intends to expand this capacity over the next five years to 400,000 birds/day, which should generate 4,000 new direct jobs in the acquired company and around 12,000 indirect jobs.
Half of Só Frango’s production will be sold to the domestic market and the rest will be exported, similar to Sadia’s operations’ model in the poultry segment,” the spokesman said.
 With the acquisition, Sadia has 14 per cent of Brazilian chicken production, broadening its market leadership.