Such an incredibly large part of our existence is being able to eat healthy and nutritional meals every day. Often, we take for granted the processes followed to ensure that when we buy and store our food we are assured of its freshness and cleanliness. Every item that RPC Astrapak manufactures goes through such stringent and finely controlled inspection to assure you, our customer, that we are committed to the highest quality standards available.

The surveillance audit recently conducted at RPC Astrapak Consupaq is part of maintaining the facility’s food safety certification, FSSC 22000. The food safety certificate is valid for three years, followed by two surveillance audits in year four and five.

Mishan Lilruthan, Quality Assurance Manager at RPC Astrapak Consupaq, commended his entire team for pulling together to ensure a successful surveillance audit result. “For Food Safety, it is crucial that you practice on the floor what is being written in the documentation. My team pulled together to ensure that all systems were well maintained, and we carry these standards out on a daily basis.”

Personal hygiene and Food Safety standards go hand-in-hand, and Lilruthan emphasised that the housekeeping within the factory had to be in top order, with the machines always in top notch condition and minimising the risk of any contamination in the manufactured product.

“We are producing a product that is safe for the consumer to use,” he said. “It is imperative that the manufacturing environment is clean and hygienic.”

When talking about the documentation associated to the audit process, Lilruthan said: “Our documentation is in order, and this plays a huge role in our success, as well as conducting regular internal system audits. It is important for us to ensure that the training for Food Safety is always up to date and that the team are always aware of what the standards are about, and what is required to achieve those standards. We manage this by sending team members on new training courses as well as refresher training courses.”

RPC Astrapak Group SHEQ Manager, Helmien Raath, said: “We have our certification for FSSC 22000 in place, but to maintain it is always the challenge to remain compliant to our system requirements and the requirements of FSSC 22000. The RPC Astrapak Consupaq team has passed with flying colours, and I am proud of them. It shows that the hard work in maintaining these standards is paying off.”