Mekeni takes ‘gingerly’ step to break into Japanese market By Ashley Manabat Jan 16, 2014 PORAC, Pampanga – A multi-awarded meat processing plant here – the Mekeni Food Corp. (MFC) - has diversified into the production of a non-meat product for export to Japan, company president, Prudencio “Pruds” S. Garcia, announced on Tuesday. MFC has quietly produced pickled ginger and is now ready to make its first shipment next week, Garcia said, explaining that the company took the “gingerly step” to break into the Japanese market known for its exacting standards in food preparation and discriminating tastes of its consumers. Its initial shipment is set at 50 tons, a modest amount by commercial standards, Garcia admitted, adding that “we hope to hit a level of regularly shipping at least 50 tons a month of pickled ginger to that country.” Pickled ginger is a popular side dish in Japan where the demand for the food item greatly exceeds available supply. He hinted this could pave the way for the entry of MFC’s core products, processed meat such as hotdog, ham as well as the popular Filipino delicacies, the pork tocino and longganiza, into the foreign market. Mekeni’s product lines are now sold in the supermarkets of Dubai. “More important than this, of course, is Mekeni’s desire to provide a bigger outlet for local ginger farmers,” he hastily explained during an interaction with officers of the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) in the company’s 24-hectare manufacturing complex in Barangay Balubad here. He recalled that MFC was borne out of the desire of its founder, Felix Garcia, the family’s patriarch, to help out their village’s residents, majority of whom lost their means livelihood because of the devastation wrought by Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption in 1991. “He told us (his five sons) back in 1991 that it was time to pay back a favor to the community that sustained the family through the years,” Garcia narrated, prompting him and two brothers to leave their lucrative jobs in the Middle East and Germany and come home. Thus, from operating a backyard-type enterprise producing pork tocino and longganiza, the Garcia family, composed of the couple Felix and Meding and their five sons, risked its entire savings in 1993 to begin transforming the venture into what it is today - an P800-million modern food processing complex, employing some 1,200 people of the town, excluding outsourced personnel, and copping national and international awards for high-quality and safe food products. The Garcias began raising hogs in the mid- 50s to augment their meagre salaries as barrio public school teachers. Later on, their five sons joined the fl edgling enterprise by selling processed meat and other products. Three of the elder sons opted to work abroad after college until they were called back by their father to help rebuild their backyard meat processing business that was also destroyed by the Pinatubo eruption. The business grew but suffered a setback during the Asian financial meltdown in 1997 and almost closed shop were it not for the intervention of the family patriarch, who insisted that the enterprise must remain open to continue giving jobs to residents of the community. “That intervention of our father saved MFC,” the younger Garcia said. MFC, which remains a family-owned corporation to this day, holds the distinction of being the first Philippine and Asian and second in the world meat processor to bag a certifi cation for food processing from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for 2005 and 2010, beating established local and foreign institutions in this line of business. The ISO certification is recognized worldwide as a seal of an institution’s adherence to quality managements systems in its operations. The so-called “new kid in town” has also garnered prestigious awards from the Business Initiative Direction (BID), in Geneva, Switzerland in 2012 and in Frankfurt, Germany in 2013 for “total quality management” or TQM, much coveted by manufacturing enterprises worldwide. On the local front, MFC copped the “AAA” or best food processor award from a government committee chaired by the National Meat and Inspection Service (NMIS) for three consecutive awarding years, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and a Grand Slam winner in 2007. Garcia said these awards clearly sent a message to consumers that the processed meat products of MFC are “produced with care and safety.”
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 05:53:50 +0000
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