Principles applicable for food products produced at factories in Arla Foods Ingredients including Joint Ventures

QUALITY PRINCIPLES, ARLA FOODS INGREDIENTS

GROUP P/S

Arla

Foods Ingredients

Arla Foods Ingredient

s

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5Ingredients and raw materials

6Food safety and food security

Infrastructure and production facilities

9Production environment

15Intended use and description of the product

12Control and self- assessment

Contents

About Arla Foods Ingredients Group P/SArla Foods Ingredients Group P/S (hereinafter re-ferred to as AFI) is a subsidiary of Arla Foods, a global dairy company and cooperative owned by dairy farm-ers in Denmark, Sweden, UK, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. The AFI head office is located in Aarhus, Denmark. Production takes place in Denmark, and at Joint Ventures in Germany and Argentina. AFI supplies customers around the world.

At AFI we strive to meet our customers’ expectations in an efficient, competitive and sustainable way. Our mission is to become the global leader in value-added whey products.

We aim to embed the highest quality standards throughout our value chain, from our raw material suppliers through our factories to secure the delivery on time of safe and sustainable products to our customers.

We achieve this by· Pursuing systematic business processes

· Continuously optimizing our value chain

· Building a company culture based on respon-

sibility, engagement and open mindedness

· Implementing comprehensive risk management

and quality awareness

· Meeting and exceeding food safety standards

and legislation

· Ensuring all employees understand and comply

with the Arla Foods Code of Conduct

Strong principles for ethical businessAs a subsidiary of Arla Foods, we follow Arla Foods prin-ciples for ethical business. We also support the suppliers of our primary raw material – milk whey – in doing the same. Where whey is sourced from other countries, we work with our joint venture partners towards a similarly high standard to the extent the local conditions allows.

Quality assuranceIn AFI we strive to produce and supply safe ingredients/products of high quality produced in a healthy and safe working environment with minimal impact on the en-vironment – and always in full compliance with current legislation.

Strategies and key performance indicators have provid-ed the framework for our Quality, Environment, Health & Safety assurance program (QEHS) as described in local quality manuals, procedures and work routines.

Local QEHS systems are implemented and maintained at each factory in accordance to AFI corporate proce-dures. The efficiency of the QEHS systems is subject to annual review by plant management leading to continu-ous improvements.

The Food Safety management system is certified to a GFSI approved standard as FSSC22000 or equiv-alent.

Ingredients and raw materialsRaw materials, whey quality To secure the highest quality, whey is only sourced from approved and authorised dairies fulfilling AFI’s demands to raw materials. The raw material origin of all AFI products is bovine milk. Approved and controlled transportation secure quality in the whole supply chain to the factories.

Agreements with the farmers, control the use of anti-biotics, contaminants etc. Monitoring follows legal rules in randomly selected raw milk samples. The findings meet the applicable legislation. Milk quality and anti-biotic contamination are tested in the dairies’ milk reception before the milk is unloaded from the tanker into silo tanks or before using it in production.The whey is produced during milk processing at the dairy and treated to secure a high quality.

Ingredients and packaging materials Documented specifications exist for all ingredients and packaging materials. Selected ingredients are received with a certificate of analysis. Incoming materials are in-spected according to the incoming control programme at the factory. All packaging materials in direct contact with food products adhere to applicable legislation.

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Supplier approvalIngredient and packaging suppliers are approved based on the quality principles defined by Arla Foods. Only ap-proved suppliers are used. The suppliers are continuous-ly evaluated based on risk, performance, audit results and amount of supply.

Arla Foods “Code of Conduct for Suppliers” describes quality and ethical sustainable standards which AFI uses as basic demands for suppliers.

GMO policy The current procedures for evaluation and authorisation of generally modified (GM) foods are laid down in EU regulation (EC) 1829/2003 on GM food and feed and EU regulation (EC) 1830/2003, which came into force in April 2004.In accordance with these regulations products pro-duced by AFI do not consist of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) and do not contain Genetically Modi-fied Organisms.

Food safety and food securityProducing safe food Arla Foods food safety policies outlines procedures regarding crisis management, personal hygiene, HACCP, GMP rules, management of ingredients allergens, food contact materials and specific microorganism etc. which are all implemented at AFI.All AFI factories have established a full implemented Food Safety Management system based on a thorough hazard analysis and appropriate GMP rules. A compre-hensive training program is implemented.

All products are based on pasteurized raw milk i.e. legal heat treatment at 72° for 15 seconds. Critical process parameters are recorded.

Infrastructure and production facilities

FacilitiesProduction takes place in buildings designed for the purpose, situated, constructed and maintained to secure against potential sources of contamination and cross contamination. Internal layout facilitates good hygiene and manu-facturing practices and hygiene sluices are in place according to demands in high risk areas.

The majority of production takes place in closed stain-less steel systems and packaging is semi or fully auto-mated.

MaintenanceMaintenance plans are established, documented and monitored. All equipment used in critical processes is calibrated in accordance with national or international standards. Calibration is evaluated and recorded.

Storage and transportProducts stored in warehouses under AFI responsibility are kept under the required conditions to maintain their quality. The principle at stock producing plants is stock rotation conducted on a “first in, first out” principle and in consideration with customer demands.

Prior to loading, vehicles are inspected as part of a doc-umented procedure.

All external warehouses and transport suppliers con-tracted by AFI must meet local legislation. They are approved on conditions defined in a signed agreement. We monitor the performance of our transport suppliers, and contracted warehouses are audited by approved internal auditors.

Utilities The supply of potable water meets EU or applicable national legislation, and checks are made to ensure water used in production is of drinking quality. Requirements for filtration, humidity and quality of air are defined and controlled. Use of compressed air is secured to prevent contamination.

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Production environmentWaste disposal and chemical control Systems are in place to ensure handling of drains and waste materials to prevent contamination of products or production areas. Contracts are made with external waste handling companies. Waste is controlled throughout the day and removed from the sites regularly.

Lubricants, chemicals and cleaning agents are kept separate and labelled to secure against cross contami-nation to products.

Cleaning and sanitizing Cleaning and sanitizing programs are established to ensure hygienic production conditions. Facilities and equipment are specified to ensure clear communication of where, how and how often to be cleaned and how to inspect the efficiency of the cleaning. Control plans are established including verification testing and validation of the methods in use.

Parameters for CIP systems are defined and monitored.

Foreign body control Based on a risk assessment of foreign bodies, control measurements are established at appropriate stages during processing. This includes separators, filters, mag-nets, sieves and metal detectors. Critical process steps as appointed by the hazard analysis are controlled as OPRP’s or CCP’s described in the HACCP plans.

In all production and packaging areas, efforts are made to minimize the use of glass and hard plastic. All contact between glass and hard plastic and an open product is registered. Glass and hard plastics are also audited as part of regular internal audits. In case of a breakage, procedures are in place to control the incident. These involve quarantine of any product at risk of contami-nation in the vicinity. All breakages are recorded and reported.

Pest controlContracts with independent pest control companies ensure the control and extermination of rodents, pests and insects. Frequent checks are made as required by legislation or as stated by our own food safety policy and findings are immediately taken care of. Trends are being analysed and records are kept for an appropriate period of time.

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LegislationAll factories, supplying products to AFI, have a license from the Governmental Food Authority. The Food Au-thorities randomly check that our products are manu-factured in accordance with EU regulations and all rele-vant legislation on production and products standards.

AFI is always updated according to the newest legisla-tion in regards to production of our ingredients by e.g. update send to us by our trade organisation. AFI is also updated on relevant Chinese legislation. The impact of new legislation is evaluated in the Food Safety Team who also initiates necessary actions.

Personal hygienePersonal hygiene and zoning are defined. At least 3 hygiene zone levels are in place: general, standard and extra. Documented hygiene procedures are in place.

The following general rules apply:

· Employees and guests visiting production or packag-ing areas must wear protective clothing, hairnets and shoes/shoe cover. Where necessary, the use of extra protective clothing, such as beard snoods, or zone- related clothing is prescribed

· Protective clothing is either disposable or supplied and laundered by an external company

· Employees working in production, packaging, and the finished products warehouses are contractu-ally bound to report to their superior if they suffer from any diseases that may affect product quality (i.e. foodborne disease, e.g. skin infection, upset stomach, diarrhoea or sickness)

· Jewellery and watches are prohibited in production areas

· Hand-washing facilities must be available in or in close proximity to all production entrance

Non-conformities and customer complaintsAny product found to be non-conforming is put in quar-antine pending a decision by qualified personnel. All non-conformities are recorded and products are quar-antined awaiting further investigation in accordance with documented procedures.

By identifying the root cause of non-conformances re-lated to products or working processes throughout the organisation, we create the foundation to make contin-uous improvements and thereby improve our effective-ness. Corrective and preventive actions are document-ed and followed up by the local QEHS departments.

All customer complaints are recorded and evaluated by the factory and are followed with a KPI by the Headquar-ter QHS department.

Food defence and access controlWe take the necessary preventive measures to minimize the risk that food ingredients/products in AFI are sub-ject to tampering or other malicious or criminal actions. Site management has the responsibility to implement and evaluate the necessary food defence initiatives. Strict visitor procedures and security arrangements are implemented for all entrances.

TrainingEmployees in production, laboratory, packaging, main-tenance and the warehouse regularly receive GMP and hygiene training and their training needs are reviewed at least once a year. Training records are held by the local factory administration..

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Control and self-assessmentAnalysis and product releaseInspection and analysis of samples follows approved sampling plans based on specification, customer and legal demands to ensure product specifications are met.

A positive release system is in place at our factories based on sufficient documentation for control meas-ures e.g. CCP’s and on visual, bacteriological, physical and chemical parameters as defined in the product specification.

Documented verification proceduresQuality inspections and/or sampling of raw materials and finished products take place at the factories. Docu-mented procedures, test methods and test plans exist for the analysis and approval of all ingredients/products. Retain samples are kept of each production.

Chemical, physical and microbiology analyses are con-ducted in accordance with approved testing schedules in the internal laboratories, which are monitored by the local authorities or a thirdparty accredited certification body. Official analytical methods are used as reference where available and/or relevant. All key analytical equip-ment is calibrated and reference samples are kept until their expiry date.

Best Practice is implemented to secure that work with pathogenic microorganisms at AFI’s laboratories pose no risk for contamination of products and spreading to the production environment.External accredited laboratories are used for certain analyses e.g. pathogenic bacteria’s.

A verification plan (Global monitoring) for monitoring of finished ingredients/products of e.g. contaminants is driven by Headquarter QHS department.

Internal and external auditsInternal audits are planned and carried out by qualified auditors on regular basis.An accredited independent third party conducts audits once or twice a year according to the individual site’s certificates.National authority’s audit the factories following local legislation and procedures.

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Intended use and description of the productIntended useThe general rule in AFI is the ingredients/products are produced according to the kosher and halal procedures. Relevant kosher/halal certificates will be supplied to customers, at their request.

Processing aids According to EU legislation no declaration for process-ing aids is needed.

Clear information on labelsLabelling of AFI ingredients/products complies with leg-islative requirements and agreed customer demands. Minimum internal requirements for labelling are the product name, batch number, weight, country of man-ufacture and identification mark or approval number, according to local legislation.

Traceability All products can be identified through their unique material number and batch identification. All details re-garding the orders and production data are registered in a computerised system, ensuring traceability both ways; from raw materials back to suppliers and through inter-mediate processes to finished products and customers. The traceability system is tested at least annually.

Customer demands and specificationsAll our ingredients/products are documented in SAP specifications which define preagreed conditions on chemical, physical and microbacteriological conditions of the specific product.

Customer requirements exceeding standard product specifications are approved by the Quality department at the factories in corporation with Headquarter QHS department before implementation.The customer is informed of changes that requires a change in product labelling or influence the characteris-tics/functionality of the end product.

Handling allergens It is AFI ’s objective to offer products enabling the cus-tomers to make an active choice regarding allergens. We ensure this by having updated knowledge about allergens used in the hazard analysis, having imple-mented routines for purchase of raw materials as well as routines in order to prevent cross contamination in our production. The labelling is accurate and fullfill as minimum the requirements described in current EU legislation.

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Arla Foods Ingredients Group P/SSønderhøj 10-128260 Viby JDenmark

Office: + 45 89 38 10 00Email: ingredients@arlafoods.com

www.arlafoodsingredients.com

Quality starts here

Arla Foods Ingredients is a global leader in natural whey ingredients for nutritious food products. Our trademark is the quality we provide to our customers in every aspect of our offering.

Arla

Foods Ingredients

Arla Foods Ingredient

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