After becoming the first Jamaican company to adopt ISO 9000 certification, Dairy Industries (Jamaica) Limited is now in the final stages of qualifying for certification in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) - a food quality standard set up to significantly reduce the incidence of food borne diseases.

Recently the company was presented with its certificate for Good Manufacturing Practices coming out of an audit conducted by Technological Solutions. This, says General Manager Andrew Ho, is the penultimate step in becoming HACCP certified. He explained that HACCP certification was increasingly being required in First World countries, and of imports entering into the United States.

Andrew Ho (centre) , General Manager, Dairy Industries (Jamaica) Limitedand Jackie Birthwright, the company's Quality Assurance Manager proudly examine the certificate of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) presented by Dr. Andre Gordon, Managing Director of Technological Solutions. Dr. Gordon presented the certificate during a meeting at the company's offices on April 3. Having successfully completed the GMP audit, Dairy Industries is well on the way to achieving certification in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), an international food quality standard.

The HACCP system was designed during the early years of the space programme in response to the need by NASA to meet the needs of astronauts in space while lowering the risk of them contracting a food borne illness. Since then the standard has been applied to food processing and production, as well as food service interests across North America and Europe.

Posted: June 1, 2006