Offering a comprehensive range of advisory, certification, training and technical services, DNV helps businesses manage the risks in their own operations and along the supply chain. Pro-actively managing your risks will effectively protect and build your brand, while communicating to stakeholders that you are committed to quality, safety and sustainability.
Right from the start
Food quality, safety and sustainability all begin at the farm. Whether on land or in waters, every sustainable product needs a good start. Sustainable agricultural practices are increasingly becoming a requirement to get market access and a way to demonstrate positive impact both environmentally and socially, and when it comes to health and nutrition.
Covering crops, livestock and aquaculture, the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA - Aquaculture and GLOBALG.A.P. IFA - Fruit and vegetables help companies improve control on both environmental and food safety issues. It can be a requirement to become a supplier as retailers see it as a tool to reduce second party audits.
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing help fisheries demonstrate good resource stewardship to consumers and stakeholders. Certification shows proof of sustainable operations and transparency on target stock, impact on the marine environment and effectiveness of the fishery’s management system. It is linked to the MSC Chain of Custody Standard which enables companies to demonstrate to consumers that the seafood products they buy come from sustainable fisheries. For livestock and aquaculture, food safety starts with the feed they eat.
The GMP+/PDV and FAMI-QS standards help ensure animal feed and feed ingredients’ safe impact on the end product. The two standards cover feed production, transportation and trade in addition to feed pre-mixtures and production of additives.
Food safety and quality along the supply chain
Retailers need to systematically address food safety at every step in the manufacturing of their products to prevent failures.
For all management system certification audits, DNV uses the Risk Based Certification™ methodology allowing us to tailor each audit to your unique needs. By focussing on the most significant food safety issues which you identify, our audits help you identify key improvement areas and reach your company goals.
Food safety in every link of the supply chain is critical. Retailers and trade organisations have therefore developed several standards on food safety which help them address their needs for efficient supply chain management.
The GMA-SAFE program is designed specifically to meet the global food industry’s audit needs, helping companies increase the overall supply chain reliability and efficiency. The audit by a third-party provides a comprehensive assessment of a company’s entire food quality and safety system, which is widely accepted within the industry. This reduces the need for multiple audits.
The BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Standard for Food Safety helps ensure supplier compliance and secure retailers’ ability to guarantee the quality and safety of their products. It is a worldwide framework for retailers and processors that helps them produce safe food and select reliable suppliers. A common food safety standard with a scoring evaluation system,
IFS - International Food Standard helps retailers qualify and select suppliers. This helps ensure the food safety of their products and monitor the quality level of those who produce their retailer branded food products.
The SQF 1000/2000 (Safety Quality Food Program) is a food safety and quality certification system. It meets the needs of suppliers and buyers to ensure their compliance with food safety regulations both in domestic and global market at all stages of the supply chain. The four standards BRC, IFS, SQF and Dutch HACCP (option B) are all recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).
Food safety and quality in every link
Packaging and logistics are links that can significantly influence food safety and quality. To close the gap between production and retailing, standards were developed to ensure quality and food safety in every link.
The BRC Global Standard for Packaging and Packaging Materials (BRC IoP) provides safety and quality guidance primarily for the producers of packaging materials. This comprehensive standard covers areas of hygiene and product safety throughout the packaging industry.
BRC Global Storage and Distribution and IFS Logistics intend to ensure product quality, safety and legality for the logistics steps in the food and beverage supply chain. The standards intend to help retailers fulfil the “due diligence” concept and applies to any player in the supply chain.
Going beyond guaranteeing food safety and quality, Voluntary Product Certification highlights the specific characteristics that differentiate a product from similar ones. Thus it supports the product’s credibility and quality attributes.
Supply chain risk management beyond food safety
Ensuring the resilience, efficiency and agility of supply chains, combined with the need to demonstrate responsible practices pose important challenges to today’s companies. The ability to understand and respond to supply chain risks is essential to create a sustainable operation, brand and reputation. Proper risk management can help you address the source or outcome of risks that could impair your company’s ability to supply a product or a service.
Improving supply chain management, Food Chain Traceability facilitates both the tracing of food safety and quality. Upstream it helps differentiate and provide credibility to foods with undetectable quality attributes. Downstream a proper traceability system can make a product recall more efficient during an incident.
Green & Efficient Supply Chain management blends managerial, technical and environmental elements to help you map the carbon footprint of your supply chain. It also helps you identify improvement areas and implement improvement projects.
Certification to the generic management system standard for social accountability SA 8000 is a good way to prove to customers that you have taken steps to protect worker’s rights and ensure ethical production of all goods made by your company.
Are you managing your brand?
Food safety incidents but also inability to manage incidents related to your environmental performance or social and ethical aspects can impact your brand negatively. On the other hand, actively managing your risks can help protect your brand and company.
Business interruptions impact your company, product and brand. Addressing Business Continuity/Emergency Preparedness can help you identify your risks and prepare for emergencies. It will help you build a more resilient supply chain, reduce cost of consequences and thus support your brand. Companies who have a prepared way to respond when hit by an incident are those best able to protect its people, assets and reputation.
In addition, practicing Crisis Management can contribute to lowering the likelihood of an incident ever occurring. Your brand is only as strong as the weakest link. One poorly managed incident could cause considerable damage.
Reputational management will help you understand your reputational risks and how to actively manage them, making you better prepared to protect your brand should an incident occur.
Other ways to improve your sustainable performance
DNV also offers other services that can help your company improve your sustainable performance. Our Climate Change Services relate to the three Kyoto Protocol mechanisms (Emissions Trading, Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism projects) and Voluntary Emission Reductions.
The Corporate Responsibility portfolio includes Verification of Sustainability Reporting, Corporate Governance Assessment, Corporate Responsibility Assessment, Fraud & Corruption Resistance Profile, and ISRS7.
In addition to those food and beverage specific, we provide Management System Certification Services to the environmental standard ISO 14001 and the occupational health and safety standard OHSAS 18001.
Through our Training portfolio, we provide: “Training with Impact. Knowledge for use.” We deliver professional training courses within all areas of our expertise, including food and beverage specific ones.