The company applies highest health and sanitary standards in all aspects of production of high-quality chicken meat.
Representatives of Vindija, the largest Croatian food company, met with Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić in Varaždin. Accompanied by Vindija’s experts, they visited the main components of the Koka Meat Industry and demonstrated how the food traceability system works “from the farm to the table”.
“The manufacturing process has been adapted to consumer expectations and we have established a system of food traceability, from the farm to the table, so that our consumers know what they are getting under the ‘Vindija Quality’ brand. Such a system is a guarantee for long-term and proven quality of products which customers choose with confidence in Croatian and many international markets”, said CEO of Vindija Group Dragutin Drk, stressing that Vindija in all its business units and plants, at each stage of production and sales process, acts in accordance with the highest standards, which is further demonstrated by the fact that at its own veterinary lab it conducts about 100,000 rigorous controls a year.
“Here we have a Croatian system, a Croatian product, and we know what we eat. We need to trust Croatian producers and meat from Croatian farms, since these are healthy and strictly controlled products”, said Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić, calling on consumers to buy imported products only when they reach the same quality level as Croatian food.
During a tour of Koka’s farms and production facilities, the Minister was introduced to the complete production cycle “from the field to the table”, which starts at breeding farms, where animals are fed with high quality food provided by the company’s own fodder factory Blagodar. With the opening of the fodder factory Blagodar in 2006, Vindija has successfully completed the entire meat production process. By producing compound feed and premix for animal feeding, Blagodar guarantees high quality and safe raw materials for all products of the ‘z bregov, Cekin and Vindon brands. Since same standards of quality and safety are applied to both human and animal food, Blagodar has established control over key segments of production, based on the input control of all raw materials and components, the process control, and the output control of finished products.
At its farms, Koka breeds broilers in the ideal conditions for growth, thanks to excellent litter and microclimate. The microbiological and health control processes use modern laboratory methods, which implement strict quality control procedures. The process from a slaughterhouse to a shop lasts from 12 to a maximum of 24 hours, ensuring the safety and quality of products.
Since 1961, Koka has had a veterinary clinic staffed by experienced specialists who preventively monitor health status of poultry at farms. In 2014, a new modern diagnostic clinic specializing in poultry was opened, the first and only such clinic in Croatia. Veterinarians continuously monitor farms in order to control the health status of poultry.
Strict and regular controls at all stages of production, processing and distribution of food are carried out within the framework of a closed production cycle which ensures a high quality of final products, which has been confirmed by implementation of the HACCP system of safety and quality control. Such preventive food safety system enables the production of safe food products, and therefore Vindija performs quality control and safety analyses in its own microbiological and chemical laboratory. Through its own veterinary service, safety controls are being conducted at farms themselves, at the beginning of the intensive feeding and seven days before slaughter, while additional tests are carried out after slaughter, processing and cooling, and before packing food products for the market.
Koka is one of the oldest Croatian poultry producers, founded in 1961. With its acquisition in 1995, Vindija achieved its greatest expansion and turned into a true business system. A modern plant for the production of breaded and baked goods was opened in April 2009 and since then, thanks to continuous investment in the development of production capacities, the company ensures the development of agricultural production, and also provides consumers with quality and safe meat products. This is evidenced by the prizes won – including an award for the best regional results achieved in fattening of broilers in Eastern Europe in 2014, awarded by Aviagen Limited, the leading global manufacturer of parental poultry flocks.
In 2009, Vindija opened a new factory for the production of meat in Plandište in Serbia, the first factory of the Vindija business system in the country. It launched the reconstruction project of the facility, resulting in a modern factory of meat products. In 2013, it expanded the facility into a full production and processing complex for the production of chicken meat. A year later, Vindija became the largest producer of chicken meat in Serbia, thus confirming its role of not just a local, but also a regional leader.
