Muscat, Oman May 2014:Nestlé Middle East, the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company, reaffirmed its commitment to food safety standards and urged government, suppliers and manufacturers to work together to boost standards around the world.
During a keynote presentation at the Oman Food Safety Conference, a two-day summit aimed at improving food safety practices in the Gulf state, Dr. Frederic Aymes, the Head of Quality Management Nestlé Middle East, said knowing your supplier’s supplier is one of the important factors to ensuring food safety in today’s world.
“Safefood depends on an increasingly complex and interdependent global food system, which means stakeholders must work together to ensure that food is not only of the utmost quality but that it also meets consumers’ nutritional and taste requirements and respects the environment and animal welfare,” he said.
“As the largest food manufacturer in the world, we at Nestlé pride ourselves on having a strict supplier selection program and working together across the whole value chain, which is one of the most effective tools of ensuring that food is of the highest quality,” he added.
Dr. Aymes showcased the way in which Nestlé works with its global suppliers by providing technical training and collaborating on standards. The firm operates stringent controls at every step of the manufacturing process, starting at the supplier level with audit controls and training on good farming practices and at the factory before, during and after processing, he said.
Nestlé also performs about 40,000 tests on its food on a daily basis across its global network of laboratories and works directly with more than 690,000 farmers worldwide to provide them with industry best practices that not only ensure food safety but also help create better living conditions for them. Working with the farmers is part of its Creating Shared Value Strategy, which encourages each organisation to create economic and social value simultaneously.
About Nestle ME
Nestlé Middle East heritage in the Middle East goes back 80 years to 1934 when the first import operation was set up in Lebanon. Today, many years later, Nestlé Middle East owns and operates 16 factories in the region and provides direct employment to approximately 7,000 people and indirect employment to several thousand more.
Nestlé portfolio in the region currently exceeds 60 innovative products in a wide range of categories: dairy products and infant nutrition, bottled water, chocolate and confectionery, coffee, creamers, breakfast cereals, culinary products, among others. NESTLÉ NIDO, NAN, MAGGI, NESCAFÉ, KIT KAT, COFFEEMATE, CERELAC,NESTLÉ PURE LIFE AND NESTLÉ FITNESS are just some of the brands available in the Middle East.
For more information, please contact:
Lynn Al Khatib
Nestlé Middle East
Email: [email protected]
Feda Kassem
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, Dubai
Tel: +971 4507 600
Email: [email protected]