Health & Safety News South Africa

Defend against foodborne illnesses with Food Safety Ninja

A recently formed company, The Food Safety Ninja, specialises in food safety, which is the scientific discipline in the handling, preparation and storage of food to prevent foodborne illness.
Defend against foodborne illnesses with Food Safety Ninja
© Kondor83 - Fotolia.com

Owner, Bennii van Rooy, says, "We provide support for the design, implementation, certification and ongoing maintenance of food safety and quality management systems, compliant with Global Food Safety Standards (GFSI) such as BRC, ISO 22000 and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points).

"We believe that food and beverage manufacturing companies should be able to manage and defend their own systems during an audit. We also believe in adding value to the business through the involvement, capacity building and growth of their employees as food safety professionals. Our mission is to make food safety professionals better at their jobs."

The Food Safety Ninja offers team leader training. "Our course is designed to build the capacity of HACCP/Food Safety officers to not only manage process requirements but also to improve systems, prepare for audits better and be able to provide training to food handlers."

The company offers e-consultancy. "We reduce the clutter and focus on what the standard requires in a short space of time. We also have valuable resources of thoroughly audited system documentation to fill any gap your system may encounter before an audit. Most times this can be facilitated using various electronic communication methods instead of on-site consulting. Years of experience in external audits and preparing for them have given us the relevant know how, especially in the compliance requirements of wine production.

"Many companies have data they never use and follow procedures that have become outdated. We streamline things so you, your staff and system can become more productive."

The company also consults on food safety system implementation. "This includes gap analysis, manual compilation and training of staff and facilitation of audits. We believe, since we're already putting product on the market without harming consumers, the next step is just writing up what we do into a formalised food safety system."

Clients include Firstcape Vineyards, Simonsig Wine Estate, Overgaauw Wine Estate, Roodezandt Wines, Stettyn, Structan Liquid Tannin, Walker Bay Spice, Thales Services, Du Toitskloof Wines and Robertson Winery.

"Because it looks like a big hurdle to overcome, it takes a long time for companies to get to the decision of becoming accredited. In my years of managing and developing systems in our industry, I have discovered that we are already producing safe products, we just need to document it and show proof thereof. My other goal is really to empower workers to become Food Safety Ninjas," concludes van Rooy.

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