Aavin working to get food safety system certification

Stage I audit has been completed for three city dairies

In keeping with industry standards, Aavin has embarked upon food safety system certification for its dairies at Ambattur, Madhavaram and Sholinganallur that supply mainly to the city.

The dairies already have have ISO 9001:2005, HACCP certification (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point is an internationally accepted technique for preventing microbiological, chemical and physical contamination along the food supply chain) and FSSC 22000 certification.

“Stage I audit has been completed for these dairies. Recently, our Tiruvannamalai dairy that also has the capability to process milk into whole milk powder and butter, got the FSSC 22000 certification — Food Safety System Certification,” explained C. Kamaraj, Managing Director, Aavin.

For safe products

“This is a certification of our food safety management system that provides assurance to consumers that we have implemented systems that consistently provide safe products. The certificate for the Tiruvannamalai plant that also processes ghee is valid till July 30, 2022,” he said.

This certification, the latest version of international standards, provides Aavin a systematic method for analysing food processes, determining possible hazards, and designating the critical control points. The steps are necessary to prevent unsafe food from reaching the consumer, he said. It also helps Aavin to increase its customer base, especially among foreign customers, he said. “The U.S. and other countries have this certification as a requirement for food products. The Global Food Safety Initiative recognises this system too,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, whose brand is Aavin, has been ensuring certification at all its dairies to provide quality food products to consumers. “We began five years ago and all our dairies have some kind of certification and we constantly upgrade them to ensure quality, which is very important in the food industry. The dairy at Tiruvannamalai also has an export licence for milk powder and ghee,” Mr. Kamaraj said.

In the south, only Karnataka’s cooperative dairy federation has FSSC 2200 certification, he added.