JEDDAH, 27 September 2006 — The winning of three internationally recognized awards recently by the Radwa Food Production Company for the quality of management and health secures its position as one of the safest poultry production facilities in the world. After the recent scares over bird flu health and safety concerns have figured high on the buying public’s list of priorities. The awards will go a long way to allaying those fears.

“This is a tremendous achievement for us,” said Tarek Taher, president and CEO of the Aal Taher Group of Companies that owns the Radwa poultry farm. “We feel it recognizes both our company’s commitment to our efficiency of production, the health and welfare of our customers and the concern for the environment that underpins our way of approaching a very necessary food production facility.”

Poultry is a major source of protein in the Kingdom where the average per capita consumption is 38kg per annum. Hong Kong is still the world’s biggest consumer of poultry at 57.3 kg/capita per annum, followed by the US at 49.6 kg/capita and Kuwait at 41.1 kg/capita.

The three awards - ISO 9001:2000; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP ELOT 1413) and ISO 14001:2004 come after poultry farm has grown over the last 25 years in production capacity from three million to 28 million chickens per year. The farm now covers an area of 16 square kilometers and is amongst the largest in the Kingdom, accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s annual production.

He added that the award reflected the commitment and efforts of the staff and employees, “Without whose dedicated input, this simply would not have been possible.”

By using high quality feed and state of the art automated poultry houses, Radwa achieved a high level of freedom from disease and biohazards associated with chicken production.

HACCP ELOT 1413 is a process control system designed to identify and prevent microbial and other hazards in food production and includes steps designed to prevent problems before they occur and to correct deviations systematically immediately they are detected. Such preventive control systems with documentation and verification are widely recognized by scientific authorities and international organizations as the most effective approach available for producing safe food. Very importantly, from the consumer’s point of view, buying products from a HACCP certified producer ensures his or her family’s health and well being.

Taher said that the company’s policy starts and ends with providing the best to consumers epitomized in its slogan: “Our Environment...Our Responsibility.” The quality of the Rawda poultry farm has already gained international recognition. In 2003, it received the International Golden Star Award for Quality-Geneva and this year, the “Arch of Europe” Platinum for Quality in Frankfurt.

The award of the ISO 14001:2004 confirms that Radwa has proved its ability to reach and sustain an internationally recognized standard for the environmental management of businesses. It prescribes controls for those activities which have an effect on the environment. These include the use of natural resources, handling and treatment of waste and energy consumption. Implementing an Environmental Management System is a systematic way to discover and control the effects a company has on the environment. This is achieved by detecting ways to minimize waste and dispose of it more effectively and by learning how to use energy more efficiently.