Food chains and safety linked through accreditation

2008-10-14

Early last summer, major Canadian restaurant chains took tomatoes off their menus because of salmonella outbreaks in several U.S. states. Less than three months later, grocery stores withdrew 23 brands of packaged meats, and Maple Leaf Foods closed a Toronto plant after the products were linked to dozens of cases of potentially fatal listeriosis. These high-profile cases show that food safety issues can cost companies untold millions in lost revenue, and also how easily they can become international events involving parties at many levels of the food supply chain.

Kerry Ingredients and Flavors’ Granby, Quebec facility is right in the middle of the food supply chain as part of a global operation that develops, manufactures, and delivers technology-based foods, flavours and ingredients for the food and beverage industry. The Granby plant, which employs 55 people, prides itself on quality management and food safety. For many years it has met the requirements of the internationally recognized Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) food safety system, and in 2000 it became certified to the International Organization for Standardization’s quality management system standard (ISO 9001).

By 2006, when the ISO 9001 registration renewal came up, Kerry had another quality control option—ISO’s Food Safety Management Systems standard (ISO 22000). The standard is specifically aimed at organizations in the food chain that need to demonstrate the ability to control food safety hazards and to ensure that food is safe at the time it is sold.

Published in 2005, ISO 22000 was prepared by an ISO working group of private- and public-sector members from 45 countries. Its approach was to marry the management systems approach of the ISO 9000 series with the food-industry specific HACCP, producing a truly international, auditable management system. To date more than 70 countries have adopted ISO 22000, and more than 1,100 companies worldwide have had their food management system certified. The beauty of the standard is that it is suitable for any business anywhere in the food chain, including equipment producers, packaging companies, cleaning and pest-control operations, and additives and ingredients companies like Kerry.

Kerry worked with the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ), one of the certification bodies accredited by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), to certify companies’ food management systems to ISO 22000.

"One of the most important advantages of ISO 22000 certification is that the standard is internationally recognized," says Christine Dupuis, manager of ISO 22000/HACCP certification for BNQ. "It is, to my knowledge, the most complete food safety management system and almost the only one with the continuous improvement requirement."

"When it came time to renew the ISO 9001 registration or go in a different direction, the company decided that ISO 22000 was more appropriate," says Kerry’s Mélanie Tétreault, who, as the plant’s Quality Assurance /Quality Control and "It met more needs in improving the quality and food safety of our products."

At the same time, the company also decided to meet the requirements of the Food Safety Enhancement Program (FSEP) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  They started the certification process in the summer of 2007.

As project leader, Tétreault received training at the BNQ offices, and then trained her quality control team. It was an intensive process, which required a great deal of time and effort by team members on top of their normal responsibilities.

"Management was very involved," says Tétreault.  "We revised our quality and safety policies, and communicated often with employees to keep them updated on the project. We had employee training and a lot of internal audits to make sure we were prepared for the first audit."

The first BNQ audit took place in November 2007 and the final three-day certification audit was completed in March 2008. The company received certification in June 2008.

The project was not without challenges, according to Tétreault. There was a learning curve, since the whole process of validating control measures was new to the team.  Production employees had to be trained to get them involved in the process. The revision of the HACCP analysis of ingredients and production processes was more detailed than anticipated. Each step of the way, employees had to make sure they met the requirements of both ISO 22000 and FSEP, and the audit itself was also very challenging.

But the rewards make it all worthwhile. "The customers' response has been very positive—they are happy to know we care enough about quality and food safety to achieve this certification," says Tétreault. 

Internal benefits include an improved understanding of the production process, products and ingredients.

"Employees are much more aware and attentive to their work and the environment; and they are more proactive in resolving problems before they actually occur," Tétreault explains. "The process gets management involved, provides better controls, and [ultimately] provides our customers with a safe product."

Kerry is not the only Canadian company to certify their food management systems to ISO 22000. And while it is the first company to certify with BNQ, other organizations are working hard to complete the process, says BNQ’s Dupuis. "We plan to have some more companies certified by the end of 2008 and/or beginning of 2009."

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