Aimia Foods has been awarded A* certification by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Aimia Foods is one of only 53 companies globally, and the only beverage business in the UK, to hold A* certification, making this an outstanding achievement for the company.
Used internationally by food and beverage suppliers, BRC is the most recognised and respected independent auditing scheme in the UK and regarded as the benchmark for best practice in the food industry.
In order to achieve BRC certification, a company must comply to the highest standards in relation to production controls, process, plant control and personnel management, and can only achieve A* certification after it passes an unannounced audit – which Aimia Foods achieved.
Aimia Foods’ unique business model brings together the production, sales, marketing and distribution of high quality own brand products, with a number of large licensed brands, including Galaxy Hot Chocolate, No Fear Extreme Energy and WeightWatchers hot beverages. In addition, Aimia Foods co-produces and facilitates fully outsourced production solutions for several multi-national blue chip businesses. In the last twelve months Aimia has invested heavily into its Haydock (England) production centre, including a new agglomeration plant that facilitates the granulation of dry powder products and a new wet production line designed to pack PET dilutable soft drinks.
Paul McGimpsey, Aimia Foods’ Quality Assurance Manager, said: “The decision to enter the unannounced scheme was easy to make as Aimia has well established management systems and controls in place, which have been developed and refined in line with the Global Standard over a period of time. These procedures cover all aspects of the company’s operations focusing on management commitment and food safety, and are consistently applied without exception. Key in this success is the highest level of commitment from every single member of staff.”
Rob Unsworth, managing director at Aimia Foods, comments: “Not only UK, but many European and North American retailers, will only consider business with suppliers who have gained certification to the appropriate BRC Global Standard, so the fact that we have achieved A* certification is an exceptional accomplishment for the business. This, combined with our excellent track record, further confirms us a leader in the beverage market.”
