Zambeef Products, a Zambia-based meat products company, is set to invest $250m to boost locally-sourced produce, as the country suspended beef and poultry imports from Europe over contamination concerns.

The company plans to establish a new abattoir and a chicken hatchery, with a capacity to produce about one million day-old chicks per week.

A Zambeef spokesman was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires as saying, "The new poultry project will enhance our production capacity now that we no longer import any products."

Zambeef plans to fund the expansion through loans from international lending institutions and internally generated funds.

In July, the company said that tests on beef hooves and offals imported from the UK and Ireland revealed the presence of aromatic aldehyde, a carcinogenic compound sometimes used to embalm bodies.