Harim is no spring chicken when it comes to poultry processing

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Harim is no spring chicken when it comes to poultry processing

Published: 10 Apr. 2023, 17:14 Updated: 10 Apr. 2023, 19:48

Harim's Iksan poultry-processing plant uses methods to enhance the freshness of its chicken. Harim spent 260 billion won ($197 million) to renovate the chicken factory in Iksan, North Jeolla, which began operations in 2019. [HARIM]

IKSAN, North Jeolla — Hundreds of featherless, air-chilled chicken carcasses hung dangling from the ceiling of Harim's Iksan plant, the country’s top poultry firm, ready to be made into chicken nuggets or any number of other food products.

Harim already holds 31 percent of the domestic chicken business with its renovated factory in Iksan, North Jeolla, for which Harim spent 260 billion won ($197 million) to open in 2019.

The food company is best known for its dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget brand Yonggary, released in 1999, having sold over 1 billion of them over the last two decades.

The company's goal is to not only reside in the poultry sector but also to expand its business to other foods such as instant noodles, microwaveable rice and ready-made meal kits for dishes such as samgyetang (chicken soup with ginseng) and yukgaejang (spicy beef soup).

Harim is well known for its chicken nugget brand Yonggary, which is manufactured at its Iksan, North Jeolla, plant. [HARIM]

Harim’s Iksan plant, which consists of four sectors, is designed to maximize product freshness and cost-effectiveness in both manufacturing and distribution. At the first sector, the poultry processing complex, the company uses a gas stunning method to slaughter its poultry — instead of using electricity to slaughter the chickens, it exposes the animals to carbon dioxide to put them to sleep, which is not only more humane but also enhances chicken quality, Harim said.

“When the poultry are put to sleep with gas instead of being shocked with electricity, it’s not only less painful for the poultry but makes it more convenient for workers who flush the blood out of their capillaries,” said a Harim spokesperson.

The process enhances the meat's freshness, as does another technique used at the Iksan plant, called air chilling. The technique chills the chickens by lowering the meat temperature to 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

When the Korea JoongAng Daily visited the complex on Thursday, the reporter was given a chance to touch one of the freshly chilled chickens.

“Other factories lower the meat temperature by dipping them in ice water, but that also saturates the meat with water,” said a Harim spokesperson. “If the meat gets waterlogged, the skin stretches and looks taut. But actually, our meat is produced with wrinkled skin, which means it is fresher.”

The remaining three sectors — K1, K2 and K3 — are located 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from the processing complex.

These three sectors produce Harim's instant noodles, rice and meal kits.

“We hardly use any sort of monosodium glutamate [MSGs] to enhance the flavors,” Byun Kwan-yoel, Harim’s general manager, explained. “Since we use more ingredients to enrich the taste, our products may be more expensive than other companies.”

Harim's meal-processing factories, which consist of three sectors, are located 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from the poultry complex. [HARIM]

Harim uses only rice and water, without any other acidity control methods or food preservatives, to make its instant rice products, but they still have a 10-month shelf life with the help of its clean room facilities. With a similar concept as a hospital isolation room, the room where rice are manufactured has higher pressure than outside so that only clean air free of microorganisms stays within the rooms, while air which flows in from outside is filtered so that bacteria or germs do not enter the rooms.

Harim's instant noodle products, such as those under its brand The Misik, use liquid sauce instead of the powdered sauce commonly seen in other similar noodle brands. Harim uses the chicken extract directly from the poultry complex.

As it takes much more effort for the company to manufacture its products, Harim plans to enhance its cost-effectiveness by simplifying its distribution process. The Iksan distribution center, placed in the middle of the three food factories, is currently under construction and set to be completed this year. The center will be open for a test run by the first quarter of 2024.

With the completion of the center, Harim plans to partner up with e-commerce platforms, including its own platform Glide, to directly distribute chicken and other food products to consumers nationwide.

“However, with the direct form of distribution which is currently available through Glide and will soon be made available through the Iksan center, we are trying to save costs,” said Byun.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]