ConAgra Foods Earns 2011 Quality Achievement Award from Safe Quality Food Institute
December 09 2011 - 12:29PM
Business Wire
ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) announced today it has been
recognized for its commitment to food safety by the Safe Quality
Food Institute, who awarded the company its SQFI 2011 Quality
Achievement Award for Manufacturer of the Year. SQFI recognized
ConAgra Foods for its commitment to food safety embraced throughout
the entire organization, as well as its early and widespread
adoption of SQF certification in the U.S. Award winners, who were
all peer-nominated, were notified Nov. 10 at SQFI’s annual
conference in St. Louis, Mo.
“I was most pleased to award the 2011 Food Manufacturer of the
Year award to ConAgra Foods,” said Robert Garfield, senior vice
president, SQFI. “ConAgra Foods embraces a dynamic food safety
culture at all levels of the organization. The employees’ goal
of continuously improving their company’s food safety system and
ConAgra Foods’ comprehensive commitment to food safety are to be
applauded.”
The Quality Achievement Awards recognize organizations that are
able to demonstrate outstanding achievement toward SQFI’s Mission
of delivering consistent, globally recognized food safety and
quality certification programs. ConAgra Foods was an early adopter
of the SQF program, which is the only certification system
recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative that offers
certificates for primary production, food manufacturing,
distribution and agent/broker management. The maker of Slim Jim®,
Peter Pan® and Healthy Choice® and many other consumer-loved brands
first obtained SQF 2000 certification for all 48 of its consumer
foods plants in 2008 and sent all consumer foods plant managers to
SQF training. The company now requires all of its co-manufacturers
to achieve and maintain GFSI certification and has set an
expectation with its suppliers to achieve GFSI certification by
2014.
Joan Menke-Schaenzer, chief global quality officer, ConAgra
Foods, explained that in addition to SQF certification, ConAgra
Foods has made significant investments in its food safety programs
over the past three years. Between 2007 and 2010, the company spent
$275 million in plant upgrades and safety improvements. Frequent
evaluations and audits from internal and external parties help
ensure that equipment and processes continue to meet the Company’s
safety standards.
In addition to investing in food safety programs and
infrastructure, ConAgra Foods has also invested in employee
training programs such as Behavior Trend Observation Performance
(BTOPS), which helps build a strong safety culture at the plant
level. This system enables the tracking and trending of safe and
at-risk behaviors. The plants and the company can then use the
information to update and expand training, procedures, processes
and equipment. Additionally, plant leadership teams attend BTOPS
training sessions where they learn how to reinforce food safety
behavior in their facilities.
SQFI’s third-party auditors noticed ConAgra Foods’ strong safety
culture when they audited the company’s plants this year. “They
went into our plants and said, ‘Wow, your plants get it. They’re
proud of their work, they’re excited about food safety and they
welcome the opportunity to continually improve,’” said
Menke-Schaenzer.
“Awards like SQF validate that we’re making significant strides
in food safety,” said Mike Tracy, vice president, Operations,
ConAgra Foods. “Our robust food safety and quality systems,
processes and procedures go beyond the requirements set by any SQF
audit. We’re honored that this award recognizes us as truly
best-in-class in SQF’s eyes, and we’ll keep getting better.”
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America's
leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of America's
households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters,
Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville
Redenbacher's, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack and
many other ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass
merchandise and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong
business-to-business presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet
potato products as well as other vegetable, spice and grain
products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice
operators and commercial customers. For more information, please
visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
The Safe Quality Food (SQF) program is recognized by retailers
and foodservice providers around the world as a rigorous, credible
food safety management system. It is the only certification system
recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) that offers
certificates for primary production, food manufacturing,
distribution and agent/broker management. This enables suppliers to
assure their customers that food has been produced, processed,
prepared and handled according to the highest possible standards,
at all levels of the supply chain. Additionally as a division of
the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the SQF program incorporates
continual retailer feedback about consumer concerns. This
information is passed on to SQF certified suppliers, keeping them a
step ahead of their competitors. www.sqfi.com
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