A quail breeding farm and a fruit exporter in Tien Giang have joined hands to export their first batch of quail eggs to Japan, a sweet result of their four-year effort to meet all requirements of the strict East Asian market.

Nguyen Ho Farm and Tien Giang Food Corp said a container of some 1.3 million canned quail eggs are arriving in Japan, and they are hurriedly preparing for the second shipment to be completed before the Lunar New Year.

Tran Nguyen Ho, owner of the farm, said there is huge demand for canned quail eggs in Japan.

In Japanese cuisine, quail eggs are sometimes eaten raw or cooked to make tamago, a type of omelette made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg often found in sushi and bento lunches. They are also common in ramen dishes.

But Ho admitted that the export volume is modest because his farm is the only Vietnamese facility that meets the Japanese partner’s requirements, which he deemed “a great pity.”

The farm owner said it took the two countries four years, with a number of working sessions and intense supervisions and checks, to settle the first shipment.

One of the requirements is that the yolk should be exactly in the middle of the egg rather than on the left or right side.