Agro Perspectiva

Nestlé Singapore wins Gold Award for Food Safety Excellence

02.08.2010 11:57 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — Nestlé was among those companies given the country’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) Food Safety Gold Excellence Award, the first time the honour has been awarded. The Gold Award recognizes 15 consecutive years of ‘A’ Grades in food safety. Ms Tan Poh Hong, AVA’s chief executive officer, said: "This year’s Gold Award is especially significant, as it is the first time that we are giving the «Food Safety Excellence Gold Award». The Food Safety Excellence Award was established in 1997 to encourage food manufacturers to maintain a consistently high standard of hygiene. The awards have been good for Singapore as an exporter of food products. Ms Tan added that the primary food safety evaluation criteria included factory sanitation, housekeeping, production line automation, personal hygiene, product quality management programmes as well as factory structural design. Mr Suresh Narayan, Nestlé Singapore managing director commented that, «Over the years, Nestlé has always been determined to adhere to food safety as well as maintaining product quality. This has become part of the company’s culture. Now that we have seen the success, our staff and retired employees should all be very proud of this award.» Mr Richard Hui, Nestlé Singapore’s Factory Manager, said that one of their key management philosophies for food safety is the Nestlé Quality Management System, which has been established according to the international standards, ISO 9001:2000 as well as ISO 22000:2005. The strict implementation of such a system has enabled Nestlé to always strive for the best product quality, building a solid foundation of confidence in the customers’ minds. «Nestlé constantly reviews and improves the production process and system, pooling a variety of ideas to find out the best plan to satisfy our customer demand. For example, we have set First Time Quality and Zero Food Safety Complaint as our production targets. At Nestlé, employees are our assets, thus we should constantly equip them,» Mr Hui added. All members of staff understand the importance of food safety as an integral part of Nestlé. Regular training is given so employees are updated and have a better understanding of food safety requirements and processes. Nestlé Singapore started operations in 1912 and now employs over 300 people and markets more than 500 products in Singapore. An R&D centre was created onsite in 1983 and this will also be the location of a new innovation hub for beverages in the region.