Pride Milling recently achieved both ISO 22 000 and British Retail Consortium (BRC) certifications, making it reportedly the only maize milling company in South Africa with both standards. These milestones follow a history of trailblazing for the eight-year old company, which was one of the first in its industry to achieve ISO 9001:2000 certification in April 2002. The company, headquartered in Centurion with several mills in Mpumalanga and Gauteng, produces a range of white maize, yellow maize, as well as diverse products for human consumption, animal feeds and pet foods.
A history of surpassing expectations
By 2004, all Pride Milling’s mills were ISO 9001 certified. HACCP was the next big step, says system compliance manager, Elsabe Vogel. By the end of 2006, all mills were also HACCP certified. ‘During 2009,’ explains Vogel, ‘we realised that to keep up with new developments in international food safety standards, we must consider ISO 22 000:2005 certification, the latest ISO certification in Food Safety and Quality Management Systems. At the same time it became clear that the global standard for food safety – BRC – was very highly rated especially by our clients.’
Following a great deal of hard work, training and final implementation, accreditation body SGS audited the company in October 2009. ‘We were delighted when all sites were successful and achieved the certification for both ISO22000 and BRC.’ ‘We are driven to consistently exceed our customer requirements, especially on product quality and food safety,’ says Vogel. ‘We decided to embark on these certifications as a way to rate performance against that of the industry. An independent accreditation body measures processes against international food safety standards, and not only against your own internal standards.’
Although companies are not always successful in implementing these systems, Pride Milling attributes its success to the hands-on involvement of the MD, Jorrie Jordaan, as well as the company’s belief to make the system processes a way of life, well integrated into its daily performance of key tasks. The structure of a support team has also contributed to the achievements. The support team consists of a system compliance manager for the Pride Milling group, as well as a system compliance controller for each business unit that support the production manager and quality assurance staff in their task of complying with the standards. ‘The positive feedback from our customers regarding the certifications is very rewarding,’ says Vogel. ‘They can be confident that the product we supply is always managed proactively in terms of quality and food safety.’
