Product Quality and Food Safety

Consumers trust the Kellogg name – a trust we have earned by manufacturing our products to strict standards. Over a century ago, our founder, W.K. Kellogg, placed his name on every product as his personal assurance of quality.

The quality and safety of our foods remain our top priorities. Managing the integrity of products requires extensive coordination across Kellogg’s global operations, from the sourcing of raw materials to manufacturing, packaging and distribution.

Kellogg has a comprehensive and robust quality model for monitoring the steps that are pivotal to ensuring product safety. These elements include:

• internal training programs
• internal and supplier audits
• periodic product testing
• environmental pathogen monitoring
• allergen controls
• labelling verification systems
• recall procedures and traceability programs
• benchmarking of industry best practices

At Kellogg, we don’t view food safety as a competitive issue. When one food company experiences a product safety problem, consumers lose confidence in the entire industry. We actively engage with other food manufacturers and industry groups to ensure that we all are in line with best practices to produce the safest products for consumers.

Training and Education

The most rigorous safety measures are only as effective as the employees who execute them. We have an extensive training program for our employees based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Program, a systematic and preventive food-safety approach encouraged by Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

Material Supplier and Food Safety

All of our suppliers must meet our stringent food-safety requirements, which are based on internationally adopted food standards (www.codexalimentarius.net). We have a series of safeguards for each raw material ingredient that goes into our products, as well as the promotional items packaged with them. We require that each of our contracted suppliers maintain a documented quality management process for its factories, agree to follow the Kellogg Code of Conduct for Manufacturers, and maintain a Social Accountability program setting forth a policy for compliance regarding working conditions (including cleanliness).

Kellogg Quality Assurance personnel visit suppliers’ plants to make certain that raw materials meet our rigid specifications and that the suppliers are adhering to quality systems. Raw materials are checked before they are unloaded to our storage silos or warehouses and are assessed against a certificate of analysis or compliance. Our contracts provide that suppliers must also submit to third-party audits and conform to all applicable laws and regulations governing product and quality requirements.

The safety and quality of our products will always remain our top priority at Kellogg Canada.

*Awarded in 2008 for 2007