BRC certification helps prawn producer swim with the big fish in quality-driven food market
Health scares caused by outbreaks of BSE and Foot-and-Mouth disease among livestock in Europe – and the accompanying media publicity – have served to sharpen focus on quality control in all links of the food chain.
Strict regulation and monitoring of food production, from sourcing of the raw materials through processing, production and final distribution to the consumer, are now considered a prerequisite by an increasingly discerning public. Implementation of quality standards can mean the difference between success and failure for foodstuff producers in today’s highly health-conscious retail market.
Lenvik Fiskeindustri, which produces peeled and cooked prawns primarily for the European market from its factory in remote Kårvikhamn in northern Norway, has recognised that third-party certification of its processes represents not only a vital safeguard but also a significant competitive advantage.
Product safety and traceability are undoubtedly the key factors driving consumer demand in the retail market, explains Øystein Pettersen, marketing director of Lenviks wholly-owned marketing arm Stella Polaris.
Lenvik recently became the first Norwegian company to earn DNV certification to the BRC Technical Standard 2000, a relatively new quality standard established by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to ensure food products conform to stringent health demands. The company was established in 1968 as a producer of salted and dried fish and fillets, and has specialised in prawn production since 1984. The factory produced 2,300 tonnes of prawns last year, with 90% of this exported to its main markets of Sweden, Finland and the U.K.
Most major European retail chains now require that their suppliers conform to this common standard. These big retailers account for the lions share of food turnover, and take their responsibility for the health and safety of the consumer seriously. With the U.K. as one of its most important markets, Lenvik boss Hans Ove Semmingsen believes certification has secured the companys future.
Monitored by DNV
He explains: We have tried to anticipate the consumers demands. Product quality, safety and security of delivery must take a high priority if a producer is to be recognised as a serious and professional player in the market. We have taken on board the consequences of these market signals and built up our systems, routines and technical standards in line with these demands.
Implementation of the BRC standard required completion of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) a thorough examination of key phases in the production process. Secondly, it necessitated documentation of a quality management system and, lastly, control of the production environment, products, processes and personnel. Lenvik achieved the BRCs high-level grading a notch above the basic level after successfully demonstrating it had remedied faults revealed by the DNV checks.
Lenvik already had a quality system in place, having gained ISO 9002 approval in 1993, but BRC regulation with its focus on consumer health requirements still represented a difficult challenge and a lot of work for us, according to Pettersen.
Quality benchmark
We have always been in agreement with third-party approval in principle, and we opted for the BRC standard because it represented a higher quality benchmark for us, he says. Our business strategy is to maintain and improve this quality system. We are working directly towards the end-users supermarkets and caterers and this places upon us a much higher degree of responsibility for our products and processes.
DNV certification has now given Lenvik recognition as a BRC-approved supplier, raising its profile in the market and expanding its potential customer base. According to Pettersen: This approval has given us access to a wider market and enabled us to win business with new customers that have BRC as a primary requirement and which we otherwise could not have approached.
Many of Lenviks biggest customers have indicated, on the basis of BRC certification by DNV, that they will not undertake their own audit of the company. For us, this means greater security, less disruption and reduced costs, says Semmingsen.
Datum: 15 July 2001