FSSC 22000

Aller Petfood takes quality management to next level with their new FSSC 22000 certification

Aller Petfood once again places the company at the forefront of raising the bar for pet food quality management. They were the first pet food company in Europe to get the ISO 22000 back in 2007. Now, the Danish pet food producer’s Russian division has upgraded the certification to FSSC 22000 certification.

April 20, 2018

What is the FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM CERTIFICATION 22000 (FSSC) and why is it relevant?

ISO 22000 was originally developed for the human food production plant, so some parts of the certification has not been relevant for the pet food trade, which is placed somewhere between the human food trade and the animal feed trade. The new FSSC takes this into account and is an adaptation of ISO 22000, to amongst others the pet food trade. Other elements have been added in the FSSC 22000 certification, amongst other a “surprise” visit by the auditors

“In our opinioun the “surprise” audits are a positive development. We believe that a quality system should be lived and not just be a certification on the wall, se we should always be ready for a visit from the auditors.”  – Henriette Bylling, CEO and owner, Aller Petfood Group. 

For many years Aller Petfood has had both the ISO 22000 – the food safety management – guaranteeing that the pet food products are manufactured, prepared, packaged, distributed and certified to the highest standards of food safety.  Some of the focus areas of the FSSC 22000 that can be highlighted as especially interesting for all stakeholders – from the distributor and the retailer to the pet parent and the pet – are the management of formulations as well as the focus on fraud prevention. At the same time the certification meets one of the current buzz words in the pet food trade, sustainability, via focus on environmental monitoring and management of natural resources.

The FSSC 22000 audits ensures that Aller Petfood as pet food producer is heavily controlled: Even if the company wished to cheat the consumer by producing products that would not match the declarations it would not be possible. So, the FSSC ensures that the players that are not playing “nicely” are found out. This for the benefit of the pets and of the entire trade.

What has Aller Petfood been certified for?

The audit includes a long list of requirements, which Aller Petfood have to meet. The auditors made positive notes of:

  • Strong leadership of management;
  • High level of personnel qualification (not least because of constant team of leading specialists and managers, many of whom have been working for 10 years already);
  • Quality of documents and various forms of record keeping is provided at a very high level;
  • Flexible and timely response to changes in the external environment. In particular, the successful implementation of the new state system for veterinary traceability, «Mercury» and assistance in the implementation of the software not only for our suppliers and customers, but also for the veterinarians themselves);
  • The naturalness of the product due to the use of only natural ingredients and the absence of any special chemical additives, dyes, etc.

It is food for thought that the auditors in fact stated that the quality level and quality management of this pet food plant, was beyond what they are experiencing in many human food production facilities.

FSSC 22000 champions transparency in the pet food trade

Transparency in the pet trade lays Aller Petfood very much at heart. The ISO 22000 supports the transparency through its “surprise” audits and fraud prevention elements.

Quality Manager Tatyana Lakutina explains that Aller Petfood welcomes the certification process: “Everybody in the organization from management to production team takes part in the process. To us, it’s not just a certificate to hang on the wall. It is an actual opportunity for us to keep improving our quality processes and our organization as a whole. “ Henriette Bylling ads that she finds it extremely important to get external people in to monitor the company: “It keeps us on our toes! Our auditors come every year and they expect to see improvements. I am proud to say that many of the auditors are surprised about level of involvement from all our managers. Apparently, this is not a given.”