Cover photo: At the Forest Experimental Station in Złotówek. In the foreground on the left: prof. Wojciech Pusz, head of the station, and on the right: Akane Kuroda, CEO of Ohchi Yamakujira.

Akane Kuroda, CEO of Ohchi Yamakujira from Misato, Japan, and translator Mariko Sumi, arrived in November 2023 in Krotoszyn, Poland, as part of a revisit following the one held in May 2023 with the region’s representatives and entrepreneurs traveling to Japan. Both trips were organised as part of the Okinoshima-Krotoszyn partnership city cooperation program. This time, the local organisers were able to present the specificities of the game meat processing market in Poland.

The three-day visit began in the Las-Kalisz company office, where visitors were told about the administrative procedures related to plant management. They covered topics spanning from the distribution of field venison collection points, the risk areas and challenges caused by the African swine fever, the types of game meat processed in the plant, which included some species unknown in the Japanese fauna, up to commercial assortment and markets. An important topic was the differences between the Polish and Japanese hunting laws, and the ways of hunting and transporting carcasses to a processing plant. The company tour ended with the guests observing the process of unloading, quality control, and storage of the carcasses delivered to the plant.

On the second day, the group went to a model rabbit breeding facility, in the slaughtering and processing of which the Las-Kalisz company also specialises. Although rabbit meat is not a significant component of the Japanese diet, guests have shown a lot of interest in this matter. Critical points of production control, factors determining the quality of the finished product, quality management systems and opportunities for the development of rabbit breeding and processing, were discussed. In the production hall of game meat processing, visitors learned about the course of veterinary control and the subsequent stages of carcass handling, i.e. skinning, basic cutting, trimming of the parts and packaging, labelling and storage of finished products. Visitors also had the opportunity to try the meals of the manufactured products in Las Kalisz company.

The third day was dedicated to the venison collection point operating at the Forest Experimental Station in Złoóówek, which is a research unit of the University of Life Sciences in Wrłcław. Onsite, visitors were able to discuss aspects of the game meat supply chain as well as the research on the African swine fever planned to be undertaken by scientists from the Włocław University. Misato City's symbol is the wild boar, the processing of which is limited to the Ohchi Yamakujira factory. At the end of their stay in Krotoszyn, the visitors received hunting jiggers with a wild boar motif and engravings. Aware of the cultural differences, the organisers demonstrated their proper use.

The measurable results of these Polish-Japanese talks are devised plans and actions aimed at creating a local product made of wild boar leather, modeled after a Misato solution, which will be tried out by the ladies from the Country Housewives' Group in Kobierno. Talks on venison trading were also put forward with high interest from both sides, although the legal conditions of cooperation between the local industry and a non-EU country might make it difficult to achieve this quickly. 

Source: Krotoszyn Town Hall

At the processing plant in Tomnice. From left to right: Tomasz Tarnawski, President of Las Kalisz, Akane Kuroda, CEO of Ohchi Yamakujira, Mariko Sumi, translator, Yana Sardak, specialist in quality, and Gabriel Mikowski, translator.