Tablebirds cited for food safety success

Business, Normal
Source:

The National, Friday 18th November 2011

By GABRIEL LAHOC
TABLEBIRDS, a subsidiary of Mainland Holdings, has become the second food processing company in the country to be awarded a hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) certificate by the National Institute of Standards and Industrial Technology.
And in terms of chicken feed and 3 Roses flour production, Tablebirds was the first company in the country to have HACCP certification.
Flour mill manager Collin Mokagai and feed mill manager Johannes Korop received a certificate each from NISIT assistant director Timothy Kepou on behalf of the company.
HACCP was a systematic preventive approach to food and pharmaceutical safety that addressed physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention, rather than finished product inspection.
It is used in the food industry worldwide to identify potential food safety hazards.
Kepou described Tablebirds’ two HACCP certificates as “having immense values” and congratulated the company as the second local food processing company after biscuit maker Paradise Foods.
“You can beat your chest, because you are no different from companies around the world, you have the best practice according to international standards and code of practice,” Kepou said.
He said obtaining the HACCP certificate was different from maintaining it, which would be scrutinised every six month during the next three years.
Mainland Holdings chief executive officer Richard Greenhalgh vowed on behalf of Tablebirds to work towards achieving HACCP certifications for its other two productions scopes, namely poultry processing and table eggs.
Greenhalgh said it took the company 10 years to achieve this international recognition and would complement the increasing demand from consumers, especially from Port Moresby and major players in PNG LNG project.
He said the other important areas to address were the working conditions of employees and the company’s quality requirements.
Greenhalgh called on the employees to work together.
March Baiwan, Tablebirds quality assurance manager, told the employees that the certificate was the company’s promise and assurance to consumers that its products were of the highest quality, which could be accepted internationally.
She said their quality assurance team would now work closely with the production teams from the mills.
Mainland Holdings is a 100% Papua New Guinea national company, based in Lae and employing more than 2,000 people through its other subsidiaries like Mainland Crocodile Farm, The Mainland Coffee Division, Territory Packaging, ABCO Transport, Huon Electrical, Tablebirds and 3 Roses Flour Mill.