Upfield, the largest plant-based consumer products company in the world has achieved the coveted Food Management System Standard certification, FSSC 22000, an indication of the quality of its products.
Upfield is the manufacturer of the Blue Band range of products namely, Blue Band Fat Spread, Blue Band Peanut Butter, Blue Band Mayonnaise, and the recently launched Blue Ban.
FSSC 22000 focuses on certifying the Food Safety Management System of an organization thereby assuring an end-to-end robust management of the systems by defining, evaluating, and controlling food safety hazards, minimizing risks and guaranteeing the production of safe food in the whole supply chain.
This includes processing, manufacturing, packaging, storage, transportation, and distribution, with checks on the suppliers too.
Speaking during the celebration of World Safety Day, Upfield East and Southern Africa Managing Director, Peter Muchiri said: “ Our Nairobi based Blue Band manufacturing plant meets the requirements of an internationally recognized best practice approach and has been able to implement a robust food defense and food fraud system to prevent criminals from intentionally contaminating our Spread and intentionally deceiving our consumers using our product or packaging materials for their economic gain.”
FSSC 22000 is based on the widely recognized ISO 22000 for food safety management, industry relevant pre-requisite programs and FSSC defined certification requirements which include food defense, food fraud prevention and allergen management, among others.
The scheme is owned by an independent non-profit organization and through meeting the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Benchmarking Requirements, the FSSC 22000 Scheme has full GFSI recognition since 2010.
GFSI recognition demonstrates that the scheme meets the highest standards globally, leading to international food industry acceptance.
“To promote a sustainable food safety culture in the entire organization, we ensure that all associates continually receive training on principles of food safety relevant to their roles, so they know the implication of their individual commissions and/or omissions to food safety. They understand and own the food safety agenda, the policy, its objectives and the outcome we seek for our consumers – good quality and a safe product,” said Alice Majani, Head of Supply Chain, East and Southern Africa, Upfield.
This year’s World Safety Day celebrations aims at safe food production which improves economic opportunities by enabling market access and productivity. At the same time, good practices along the supply chain improve sustainability, minimizing environmental damage and the amount of agricultural product that must be discarded.
