Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) has become the first Thai company to export fresh poultry and chicken products to Germany after being granted the country’s QS Standard.

CPF is reported to be the only company from a non-EU country to win the world’s renowned production criteria.

The QS Standard is reported to be the highest standard in terms of food safety for German consumers, and increasingly recognised and winning confidence from consumers in other EU countries.

The standard is awarded to the companies that restricts the use of antibiotics and whose products are salmonella-free.

“What’s more important is by receiving the QS Standard, CPF is able to get more orders from German and the EU customers.”

In its first shipment, CPF exported 23,000kg of fresh poultry to Germany, and it intends to export 70,000t of chicken and chicken products totalling THB10bn ($285m) to the EU this year.

CPF chicken business chief operating officer Virachai Ratanabanchuen said: “The QS Standard sends a message to Thai consumers that they will enjoy CPF’s chicken produced by a process considered as safe and as quality as the one enjoyed by Germans and the EU citizens.

“What’s more important is by receiving the QS Standard, CPF is able to get more orders from German and the EU customers.”

Ratanabanchuen explained that the QS Standard will integrate the entire supply chain together from feed, to farm and food; and from importers to retailers and wholesalers in Germany and other destinations.