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Quality System for Food Safety
In line with our wish to be a responsible provider of safe products, Rieber & Søn has decided to be certified in accordance with recognised international quality standards.
Foto:
Ragnar Berger, Director of Food Safety in Rieber & Søn i conversation to one of his colleagues in the Czech Republic.
Within the food industry, until fairly recently, there has been no single, uniform standard, although there has been a great need for quality assurance. Over the years, primary producers, food manufacturers and parties involved on the trading side (and to some extent public authorities) have therefore developed their own guidelines. This has resulted in a multitude of standards, or ”languages”, each with a different focus, depending on the market and the industry.
In 2008, for the first time, a single food safety management system was established under the ISO umbrella. The new food standard was drawn up in broad collaboration with many parties, and as a result there is now a single food standard for the entire value chain.
Above all else, an overall focus has been brought to bear on the special food quality challenges that the food industry must relate to and as a the same time a common ”language” has been established with world-wide application. ”Certification in one place means certification everywhere” is the perception within the industry. The standard is called ISO22000.
Implementing standards
In the spring of 2008 Rieber & Søn decided to implement ISO22000 in all of its production plants, and in many of them project groups have already been set up. Our previous systems will gradually be phased out and ultimately there will be one quality standard throughout the Group. As well as simplifying communications between the plants, implementation of the standard will also reinforce the safety of transferring products between production units.
The standard will also lead to better communications between suppliers and retail and food service outlets as it is expected that they too will either implement ISO22000 or use it as a basis for their quality work.
Certification underlines and ensures that the management are committed to focus on and allocate resource to quality and food safety. It also means that the flow of goods is under good control, that divergence is dealt with in an appropriate way and that improvement programmes are followed up.
Ongoing revisions ensure that the quality manuals do not remain on the shelf but are used to integrate objectives and procedures with development and operations. A certified company therefore advances far up the quality ladder. Certification safeguards the products and gives the customers the reassurance of knowing that the risk of dealing with us is even less.