Thursday 25 February 2010

An Integrated Approach to the Food Sector

One of the largest global food organisations is pioneering a change in the sector. With many food companies focussing all of their energy, resources and time on food safety, this European giant is taking a holistic, integrated look at all of the issues that might impact on both the industry and on their business.

This global organisation started with their Quality Management System (QMS), rolling out ISO 9001 across their global operations. They followed that up by integrating their Environmental Management Systems (EMS) into their overall management system and gaining ISO 14001 certification across all of their global sites.

Recently, their focus on Health and Safety Management Systems has increased, with their OHSAS 18001 systems being certified at a number of their global locations. They are also looking at a “gap analysis” globally to identify where best practice can be implemented to further optimise their Health and Safety systems.
What about Food Safety you ask? This organisation has always featured food safety as one of their core concerns. They address food safety issues both through their existing integrated management systems as well as through specific Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS), such as ISO 22000.
Lastly, by no means are they standing still. In March, we at LRQA will be working with them on rolling out ISO 22000 across all of their global sites. And, discussions are always on-going regarding their CSR report.
By looking at their risks, both existing and potential ones, this organisation has been able to engage their stakeholders, both internal and external.  An integrated, global management system (with QMS, EMS, OHSAS and FSMS as its components) means that issues are being addressed proactively with continual improvement a way of doing business.

2 comments:

  1. Latinamerican countries are working really hard to archive high quality standars in food production, in order to become one of the most atractive food suppliers.

    along these lines, Colombia has very important events focus on Food Safety and Quality. One of these events is FOOD SAFETY (www.foodsafety.com.co
    ), which gives the Quality and Food Safety directors, tools to improve the management and projection of colombian food industry.

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