Contribute to healthy and diverse lifestyles
Assurance of food safety
As a food company, we at the Calbee Group believe that offering safe, reliable products is one of our most important social responsibilities. We conduct thorough quality management in compliance with international standards for food safety system certification, to strengthen our systems for quality assurance across the entire supply chain from our production areas to customers. Furthermore, we are consistently tuned in to customer feedback and utilize the comments we receive to make improvements while communicating to customers about these efforts. In doing so, we all work as a team to deliver products that satisfy customers and gain their trust so that they will be more inclined to buy from us again.
Main intiatives
Prevention safety and quality incidents
Acquiring and complying with the international standard FSSC 22000
Based on the FSSC 22000 international standards for food safety system certification, we utilize the HACCP system, set out our hazard analysis and control methods, and observe the state of our operations through internal audits and regular audits. When installing new equipment, we also act preemptively to eliminate risks by canvassing the production site beforehand and performing hazard analyses. FSSC 22000 certification has been obtained for 13 Calbee Group factories in Japan.
AAO activities
In the past, Calbee experienced a product contamination incident and responded with a large-scale product recall. In order to never repeat this mistake, we conduct Companywide activities aimed at providing customers with safe (Anzen), reliable (Anshin), and delicious (Oishii) products.
Building the framework for providing safe and reliable products
We have taken various initiatives to ensure that the products we provide to our customers are safe and reliable, including installing X-ray inspection devices and metal detectors to prevent contamination, and surveillance cameras at our manufacturing sites. Additionally, in order to prevent mistakes on lists of ingredients in some of our packaging processes, we have installed and are using an error prevention checking system in our domestic production lines which checks whether the product content matches its packaging.
Error prevention checking system
Partial automation of product package label proofreading process
Product packages contain raw ingredient and allergen information and other product information that is very important to customers. We cannot afford to make any labeling errors in terms of compliance with food laws and regulations. At Calbee, product package labels used to be visually proofread by our staff, but we worked with Too Corporation to develop and launch a system that automates part of the proofreading process, dubbed the Calbee Automatic Proofreading System (CAPS). CAPS was first used for pillow packaged snack products such as Potato Chips in 2021. We continue to look for ways to reduce labeling errors and staff workload.
The yellow-green line indicates that there is no problem in the proofreading area
Traceability system developed to control data on a package-by-package basis
We used to collect and monitor a range of information based on the raw ingredients used in products and the production time and production line at factories. We now have a new traceability system jointly developed with Ishida Co., Ltd. The system enables us to link data and centrally control product information on a package-by-package basis through several monitoring devices installed in the production process. The system, which became operational for some production lines at the Konan Factory in July 2022, will soon be used in other factories as well. By utilizing the system, we will be able to visualize the information centrally managed and accumulated and the work status of each process, and thereby respond more quickly to product inquiries from customers, closely monitor product status and improve product quality.
Quality control support for overseas group companies and overseas suppliers
We are enhancing the collaboration between the Quality Assurance Division and Overseas Division to strengthen the quality assurance systems of overseas group companies and factories of alliance partners. For overseas group company factories, we apply our quality assurance practices from Japan and implement food sanitation audits based on the Calbee Group Food Hygiene Standard. Moreover, since each country has its own specifications and standards such as import and export regulations and package labeling requirements, we put in place a quality control system that meets local requirements. We conduct introductory screenings locally when choosing new overseas suppliers. When they fail to meet our quality requirements, we offer guidance for improvements, and if they still cannot improve, we do not select them. In addition, we also conduct regular audits of imported raw ingredients and have built a system that assures the quality of products from the raw ingredients up.
Actions against residual pesticides
To ensure the safety of raw ingredients, we make sure that farms properly use pesticides, and conduct residual pesticide tests of our own in full compliance with laws and regulations.
Product quality training
We organize regular workshops for product planning and development staff every year. This includes workshops about labeling requirements, raw ingredients specifications, and product specifications and standards. At factories, we offer career development training as part of training programs for quality assurance managers who will be responsible for the next-generation, in an effort to improve the quality levels of entire factories.
Initiatives for monitoring security
Measures in response to food allergies, etc.
Eliminating risks associated with food allergies is an issue to which a food manufacturing company must give its full attention. We thoroughly clean our production lines to ensure that our products do not become contaminated with allergens. As we continue our efforts to display allergen contents on product packages in a way that is clear and easy to understand, we also provide this information for some products on our website. We will provide information on more products in the future.
Using customer feedback for product development
We consider listening to customer feedback to be an imperative process for developing products for their changing lifestyles. Calbee closely scrutinizes customer opinions received by our Customer Service Center in order to develop even better products and communication activities.
We review product risks and safety following inquiries into recommended ages for consumption that accompany diversifying product lineups, and notifications of food reminders for children issued by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency. Our website introduces recommended ages for eating some representative products. We indicate the recommended age for some products on the product packaging so that customers can enjoy products without worrying.