5 September 2008
MERLUS Seafood Processors in Walvis Bay is the first fishing company in Namibia to obtain certification from both top-ranked food-safety management systems, ISO 22000 and BRC, at the same time.
ISO 22000 is an international standard that defines the requirements of a food-safety management system covering all organisations in the food chain, from "farm to fork".
The system enables a food business to plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a system to provide safe products and demonstrate conformity with applicable regulatory requirements.
Developed by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), a UK trade organisation that represents the interests of UK retailers, the BRC's Global Standard for Food Safety was created to establish a standard for due diligence and supplier approval.
This system was, and still is, regarded as the benchmark for best practice in the food Industry.
The majority of UK, and many European and global retailers and brand owners will only consider business with suppliers who have gained certification to the appropriate BRC Global Standard.
According to Merlus's Kirsten Manasterny, certifying the company's food-safety management system against the requirements of these standards will bring several benefits.
This includes achieving a "truly global" international standard, enabling communication about hazards with partners in the supply chain, establishing a systematic and proactive approach to identification of food safety hazards and development and implementation of control measures, creating a comprehensive approach to quality, hygiene and product safety, addressing part of the due diligence requirement of food manufacturers and retailers, and the continuous support for improvement through ongoing surveillance and corrective actions.
Merlus Seafood Processors was also the first fish-processing company in southern Africa to obtain ISO 14001 (environmental) certification in October 2007.
"When products and services meet our expectations, we tend to take this for granted and be unaware of the role of standards.
However, when standards are absent, we soon notice!" she said.
Merlus began production in October 2003 at its state-of-the-art facility, which converts sea-frozen fish into retail products, mainly for the Spanish market, sold under the Mascato brand.
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