Our factories are regularly independently audited against internationally recognised standards for food safety and quality systems and in addition are subject to regular unannounced Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) audits which verify that best food safe practices are maintained during the manufacture of our products. Our production staff and Quality Assurance teams sample continuously to ensure best quality in every bag every time.
Listed below are some of the standards we work to that help us achieve this goal.
BRC - British Retail Consortium
The British Retail Consortium developed and introduced the BRC Food Technical Standard in 1998 to be used to assess manufacturers of own label products for retailers. Before too long, this standard was adopted by many other organisations in the sector and became a symbol of best practice in the food industry. It's use spread beyond the UK and became a Global Standard, used as a base for supplier assessments by many companies.
AIB - American Institute of Baking
AIB in a non-profit making orgnaisation set up in 1919 for the bakery industry in the USA, but now covers a wide range of food processing, distribution, foodservice and retail organisations globally. AIB audits for good manufacturing practices (GMP's) look specifically at food safety programmes, management systems, pest control programmes, operational methods and personnel practices, maintenance for food safety and cleaning practices.
HACCP - Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points
HACCP is a control system that was developed in the early 1960's by the Pilsbury Corporation with NASA and the US Army to ensure food safety for the first manned space missions (imagine sickness and diarrhoea in a space suit), by applying a nil-defects approach to food production. HACCP involves a systematic assessment of every process step during manufacture of a product and identifies the steps which are critical to ensure food safety.
The HACCP system and guidelines for its application were defined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in the Codex Alimentarius Code of Practice. This Commission implements the Joint Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and World Health Organisation (WHO) Food Standards Programme.
Following an outbreak of E. coli 0157 in Scotland in 1996, The Pennington Report recommended that HACCP be adopted by all food businesses to ensure food safety. HACCP principles were incorporated into specific UK regulations, including those for the meat and seafood industries.
FEMAS - Feed Materials Assurance Scheme
The FEMAS system combines due dilligence requirements from the Food Safety Act 1990 and the traceability demanded by the recently introduced Feed Hygiene Regulations and confirms that any by-products created in our French Fry plants can be used safely by the feed industry and in farm assurance schemes.
CLAS - Campden Laboratory Accreditation Scheme
CLAS was developed by CCFRA (Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association) for use in food drink and related sectors and now is one of the largest of such schemes in the UK. The main aim of the scheme is to promote good practice in laboratories and the use of valid methods supported by Quality Assurance checks.
The scheme is based on European laboratory quality standards, is fully recognised by UK retailers and covers the requirements laid out for testing laboratories defined in the BRC Technical Standard.
SKA - Sephardi Kashrut Authority (kosher)
The SKA are a body who annually assess our potato processing facilities in the UK to ensure that our products conform to jewish dietary laws and can be certified kosher. Part of this process involves them talking to our ingredient suppliers and looking at the products they handle, to ensure that they meet the same requirements.
Pest Control
We only use nationally recognised pest control companies (registered to the BPCA - British Pest Control Association) to carry out routine inspections of our plants.