Slaughterhouse Modernization with EU Support

The pork processing company Topesa Ltd. has more than doubled its capacity by modernizing its slaughterhouse with a HUF 445 million investment, the managing director of the company, László Somogyi informed MTI.

He reported that the Hungarian-owned company, which produces half-skinned pigs, used HUF 269 million of EU and domestic subsidies to purchase a slaughterhouse and a pig cutting line and also built a new slaughterhouse from its own resources.

The investment will enable Topesa, based in Csurgó, SW Hungary, to slaughter up to 1,000 pigs a day instead of the previous daily figure of 400-450, with a planned further development costing around HUF half a billion to increase its range of cut meat products, he said. He added that the latter would increase the number of employees from 72 to 100-120.

The managing director also referred to an element of the slaughterhouse's production line, the so-called second flame tunnel: the heat-treatment equipment de-germinates the pork, as a result of which it remains fresh for 12 days without being preserved or frozen.

László Somogyi noted that the company produces 97-98% of its products for the Hungarian market, with more than half of its products bought by the retail chain Spar Hungary and that the upgrade would allow it to export to Croatia.

Among the future developments of the company, the CEO mentioned the purchase of a line of machinery essential for the production of cut products, as well as the construction of a wastewater treatment and biological purification plant.