Metsä Board Simpele implements new standards in food safety

30 November 2017

Metsä Board, a leading European producer of premium paperboards is pleased to announce that its Simpele mill has recently integrated the FSSC 22000 food safety system into its management systems and received third party certificate to verify this.

The FSSC 22000 Food Safety System provides a framework for effectively managing an organisation's food safety responsibilities. FSSC 22000 is fully recognised by the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) and is based on existing ISO Standards. It demonstrates that a company has a robust Food Safety Management System in place that meets the requirements of both direct customers and consumers. The GFSI brings together key players from the food industry to collaboratively drive continuous improvement in food safety management systems around the world.

As leading fresh fibre paperboard manufacturer Metsä Board wants to ensure that its product safety practices are equivalent to the standards in the food industry.The preparations for change have taken a year with both contractors and staff going through comprehensive training. As Simpele mill among all other Metsä Board mills already had ISO 22000 certificate, the food safety procedures were already in place, but via the new standard the processes and prerequisite programmes were further strengthened.

Marjatta Punkka, Product Safety Manager at Metsä Board commented; “Consumers appreciate the benefits of paperboard made from traceable and renewable fresh fibres, particularly when the paperboard is in direct contact with food. We therefore want to ensure that our paperboard products continue to meet the tightest requirements and that our systems are future-proof in respect to any changes. The food sector is a notable user of Simpele mill’s products and therefore the implementation of the FSSC 22000 Food Safety System is a very important development for us in respect to producing first class paperboard for our food sector customers. As next, we are looking at expanding the implementation also to our other mills.”

 

Source: metsaboard.com