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Intelligent production isn’t just for the tech industry—as Young Kam-yim of Luen Tai Hong shows, it can also be applied to the humblest of foods
Hong Kong’s only high-tech producer of liquid eggs—with a production line that processes tens of thousands of eggs a day—started off more than six decades ago with a single shop.
In 1957, Young Wai-fan, who had moved to Hong Kong from mainland China, set up Luen Tai Hong, selling whole eggs from premises in Wing Shing Street, Sheung Wan—also known as Egg Street—in the location where Grand Millennium Plaza is today. His son Young Kam-yim joined after leaving school as a teenager in the early 1980s, in order to help his father out. These days, Young serves as managing director for the company, where his daughter and son also work in senior roles.
“I learned and worked alongside my father, constantly thinking about and exploring how to make advancements in the egg production business,” he says. “One of the favourite foods among Hong Kong fishermen at that time was salted egg yolks. I proposed the idea of curing and sun-drying salted egg yolks and selling them to vendors at the ports; that was the start of having a product other than shell eggs. Gradually, we gained more and more customers.”
In 1999, the company started to specialise in selling separated egg whites and yolks, helping it to grow further. During this period, Young travelled to Europe and the US to learn how to improve the production process and embarked on his journey towards smart manufacturing.
Liquid assets
Transportation of eggs can be difficult and damage is easy. Because of this, liquid eggs had once all been imported into Hong Kong frozen. In 2013, Luen Tai Hong changed the game, introducing a fresh local supply.
Because liquid eggs are pasteurised, there are considerable food safety advantages, which made them a popular choice with the likes of restaurants, hotels and hospitals. The company established a factory producing liquid eggs, a product that is used in bulk throughout the F&B industry, particularly by businesses like bakeries. With this, Luen Tai Hong became the city’s first local supplier of liquid eggs, and still has a 30 per cent share of the market today.
“We thought Hongkongers deserved something better: liquid eggs made in Hong Kong by a local brand,” says Young. “This production line can transport 130,000 eggs per hour, over one million a day, on a conveyor belt. After washing and drying, the eggs are broken and the whites and yolks separated and collected. They then pass through a filtration system and a pasteurisation system. The introduction of this production line significantly improved efficiency, and ensured the quality and safety of the egg liquid.”
