Quality assurance

At VION we do everything in our power to supply good, safe meat products. That is our duty. VION Food Netherlands is therefore actively involved in every link of the production chain. This chain is made up of livestock farmers/suppliers, hauliers, abattoirs, cutting plants, processing plants for meat, bacon and other meat products, and retail outlets.

Quality assurance systems have been implemented for every link in the chain.
These systems are an integral part of the chain's overall quality system. The chain's quality system is based on international standards.

The following lists and outlines the different quality systems. And it also lists the quality standards our fresh meat products have to meet.

 

Quality systems

• ISO 9001
• ISO 14001
• IKB
• HACCP
• GMP

ISO
VION Food Netherlands' operations are compliant with both NEN-ISO 9001 (quality management system) and NEN-ISO 14001 (environmental management system). The scope of both of these systems extends from the supply of pigs to the production of bacon. All VION Food Netherlands subsidiaries are ISO certified.

IKB
The Dutch national quality system for pig farming, IKB (Integrale Keten Beheersing - integrated chain control), forms the quality basis for the production process of our pork. IKB covers matters such as animal health, animal feed, farming, animal welfare and hygiene. IKB is based on monitoring of the entire chain. Transport companies, veterinary surgeons and abattoirs and meat processing plants all come under the IKB scope. All IKB control points are listed on www.ikbvarken.nl
Hygiene codes for abattoirs and cutting plants form an integral part of IKB. In addition to IKB, VION sets supplementary requirements for its specific quality concepts.

HACCP
HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points. The HACCP system is a method of producing food that meets the highest standards in the area of food safety. We have charted all critical points at our plants and in the production process as part of this system. These points are subjected to structural and continuous checks.

GMP
The acronym GMP stands for Good Manufacturing Practice. A GMP company is a company that has clearly defined internal processes that it adheres to at all time. This covers areas such as staff training, purchasing procedures and complaints procedures. GMP is a basic requirement for obtaining HACCP certification.

 

Quality standards

GFSI
GFSI stands for Global Food Safety Initiative. This is an initiative by a large number of international supermarkets. Meat that satisfies GFSI criteria is recognized worldwide as safe. VION Food Netherlands' meat complies with GFSI.

BRC
The BRC quality standard is the programme of quality requirements of British supermarkets, and it applies to bacon, for example. BRC stands for British Retail Consortium. All VION products comply with these requirements.

USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the organisation in the United States that monitors meat safety. Anyone who wants to export to the USA must be approved by the USDA. Requirements are strict. Approval is valid for a period of six months. After that, there is another inspection. These inspections focus on, among other things, hygiene during the slaughter process, and proper cleaning and disinfecting before, during and after the production process.