Late last year, the Avian Flu swept through a significant portion of the Philippine poultry farms, causing ripples of panic among chicken-loving Pinoys.
Filipinos have a deep love for chicken dishes. As a protein, it’s affordable, healthy, and easily available. Or it was easily available. After the Avian Flu scare, a lot of people worried that the chicken that they bought in the markets and groceries was no longer safe.
Retailers have buckled down and undertakedn stricter measures to ensure that the chicken they offer their customers is safe. One such retailer, however, has a unique advantage in this regard. Unlike other meat vendors who source chicken from contract growers or household backyards, Fresh Options sources its meat from company-owned farms that feed their animals only high-quality feeds from their own feedmill. As an extra step towards quality, chickens are dressed in AAA-accredited dressing plants, processed under strict compliance to ensure freshness and safety, and finally distributed to stores through the company’s own logistics system. All of this happens in less than 24 hours.
Fresh Options is able to accomplish this feat of bringing safe, economical, and freshly-chilled chicken from being live in a coop to perfectly dressed in a retail store in less than a day because it operates as a single company-owned and company-operated (COCO) organization– from the farms to its stores. This also allows it to strictly control and implement its stringent quality standards.
As they don’t rely on contract growers and franchisers, each part of its integrated system is monitored. The farms are regularly checked by qualified veterinarians who assure that the flocks maintain a natural growth processes and that no artificial growth additives are used. These extraordinary measures ensure that Fresh Options chicken is National Meat Inspection Services (NMIS) approved and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certified.
That’s not all that’s impressive about Fresh Options’ fresh-chilled chicken. Their processes have been optimized to maintain freshness and minimize bacterial growth, resulting in meat that is juicier, tastier, and more flavorful, thanks to the meat’s natural juices being kept intact. Unlike frozen meats, whose fibers are sometimes damaged in the flash-freezing process, fresh-chilled chicken meat is able to absorb more flavor during cooking. It also does away with the hassle and potential cross-contamination of defrosting your meat at home.
Fresh Options chicken is a product of RDF Feed, Livestock, and Foods, Inc. (RDFFLFI), a medium-scale enterprise owned and managed by expert veterinarians led by Dr. Robert H. Lo, a University of The Philippines Most Outstanding Alumni awardee in the field of Veterinary Medicine. RDFFLFI is involved in the entire food supply chain. It prides itself with its integrated company set-up, from feed manufacturing to commercial livestock, fresh, processed, and cooked meat production, distributions and retailing, and restaurant business. All critical phases of this integrated operation are company-owned and company-operated.
RDFFLFI is also an innovator when it comes to product offerings. Fresh Options’ farm-to-table brand architecture provides a wide range of options that are based on the ever-changing consumer lifestyle. Moreover, its heavy investments in R&D and modern technology, coupled with high-quality control from raising animals to final products and good manufacturing practices, had also given them the adequacy to ensure consumers that their livestock and final products are in best of health and of the highest quality, respectively.
Fresh Options has more than 160 stores scattered across Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and CALABARZON where consumers can buy fresh-chilled chicken and enjoy it with their families at the comfort of their homes.