Award recognizes the farms’ ability to control food safety hazards and ensure food safety
Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production, the first established dairy in UAE and a leading producer of dairy products, has been awarded the ISO 22000:2005 certificate for its ability to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards.
In order to be awarded ISO, Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production had to plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a Food Safety Management System, demonstrate compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory food safety requirements, evaluate and assess customer requirements, effectively communicate food safety issues to their suppliers, customers and relevant interested parties in the food chain, ensure that the organization conforms to its stated food safety policy and demonstrate such conformity to relevant interested parties.
Commenting on the recent ISO certification, Mr. Abdullah Saif Saeed Al Darmaki CEO, Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production said:
“By certifying our Food Safety management system against the requirements of ISO we now comply with Codex HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) principles. For Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production, this means a system approach rather than product approach, better planning and improved documentation. This will enable us to easily indentify food safety hazards and implement control measures.”
In addition to ISO 22000, Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production was also eligible for the PAS 220 Food Safety Certificate, which provides proof of best proactive for prerequisite programmes on food safety for food manufacturing. Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 220:2008 is a standard which specifies requirements for prerequisite programmes to assist in controlling food safety risks within the manufacturing processes of international food supply chains.
In order to secure the ISO certificate, Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production has to pass various tests and examinations. A Food Safety Team was developed and was responsible for planning and executing the Food Safety Management System requirements with the following scope of: Manufacturing and distributing Dairy & Juice products, manufacturing products under Private Labeling/ Brand Name and Rearing Healthy Cattle and Camels for Production of whole fresh clean lacteal secretion, which is practically free from Colostrum or mastitic milk. The Produced milk is chilled immediately, stored in insulated tanks and transported to the Dairy Plant.
Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production also prepared an “Integrated Management System (IMS) Manual” which deals with the integrated systems of QMS ISO 9001:2008 (Quality Management System) and FSMS ISO 22000:2005 (Food Safety Management System). This manual describes the Integrated Management System based on the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 22000:2005, which have been established, implemented and maintained at Al Ain Farms for Live Stock Production. It also explains the main control mechanisms used in the pursuit of customer satisfaction, food safety and continual improvement.
“To ensure compliance with ISO we also gave Training to the personnel employed by the company on the methods of achieving quality and food safety, provided a reference base against which the adequacy of current practices can be Judged and improvements initiated, established the company directive one quality and food safety and committed on ensuring of the continuity of processes, operations and methods,” added Al Darmaki.
In addition, Al Ain Farms for Livestock Production had to go through many other processes such as establishing, implementing and maintaining effective arrangements for communications with various stakeholders, establishing an emergency response plan, managing resources, planning of product realization and defining Supplies Management and Control Process.
