Although it may seem obvious, feed and food safety is an extremely important strategic pillar for us as producer. We continue to invest in quality assurance to guarantee this safety. Safety Guard, our unique quality system, helps assure the highest standards in terms of food safety in all production links. In this way, we can supply the high-quality, safe and nutritious protein-rich products that buyers expect of us.

Transparency and traceability

We are committed to guaranteeing transparency in the chain and traceable product information.

Safety Guard

Safety Guard, the VanDrie Group's quality system, facilitates the guarantees that are demanded worldwide in every link in the chain. Whether it concerns what happens in veal farming, during animal feed production, or at meat processing companies, Safety Guard standards are followed everywhere.

This quality system is based on ISO 22000. By 2023, the various subsidiaries of the VanDrie Group had also acquired GMP+, IFS and ISO 14001 certification, amongst others. Vitaal Kalf (Fit Calf) is the quality system of the Dutch veal sector. This quality system includes rules for hygiene, calf health, animal welfare, feed quality, medicine use and registration.

Traceability throughout the chain

A unique aspect of Safety Guard is its traceability system. We use this to keep track of exactly which raw materials are incorporated into animal feed, where they come from, and which farms the batches of animal feed go to. The calves have unique ear tag numbers that are always linked to the animal. In this way, we know at which farm the animal was born and raised. The unique code remains linked to the products at the meat processing companies. This allows each individual cut of meat to be traced back to an individual ingredient in the animal feed, for example.

Inspections, monitoring and internal audits

Our companies are inspected by national government organisations, such as the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) in the Netherlands, regularly or daily. The meat processing companies are under the permanent supervision of the NVWA. In addition, self-appointed internal auditors conduct internal audits of subsidiary animal feed and meat-producing subsidiaries via an established programme. A comprehensive three-year training plan was established for these auditors in 2022. In this way, the auditors’ knowledge and skills are kept up to date in a structured way in order to contribute to a process of continuous improvement. In addition, audits by clients or foreign governmental organisations take place very regularly.

HACCP

Hygiene is a crucial factor in meat production. Products of animal origin inevitably contain microorganisms. It is up to us to ensure our practice is set up in such a way that we work in accordance with the standards. Our meat-producing companies therefore operate in accordance with HACCP. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. It is a risk assessment for foodstuffs.

The companies have identified all potential hazards and indicated actual hazards. Critical control points (CCPs) have been established to this end. These are points in the process where the risk can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable level. The critical boundaries, and how these boundaries are monitored, are indicated for each CCP. Corrective action has also been established. This is taken if monitoring shows a CCP is not sufficiently controlled. Verification is applied to periodically determine whether the HACCP strategy is effective.

Documentation and records are maintained for this. In practical terms, the HACCP safeguards the delivery of clean animals, the use of clean knives and equipment, proper sterilisation, the good personal hygiene of employees, intensive cleaning of production areas, and prevention of condensation, for example. We monitor our efforts to demonstrate our compliance on this theme. This involves taking many samples of products and the environment. For example, we take samples from carcasses to test for the presence of E-coli or salmonella.

Animal Welfare Officers

To meet animal welfare requirements during slaughter too, Animal Welfare Officers have been appointed at all our meat processing companies. These employees are trained to recognise animal behaviour and are experts in calf welfare and the processes at the business in question. They play an important role in safeguarding animal welfare at meat processing companies.

Zoonoses

Zoonoses are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, or vice versa. A zoonosis can be transmitted in several ways, namely via direct contact, through the air (splashes, aerosols, or via dust particles), via contact with bodily fluids (blood, mucous, urine, faeces, uterine fluids), via indirect contact (via contaminated objects, doorknobs, instruments, or manure) and via insects and parasites, such as flies, mosquitoes and ticks. What’s more, infections can occur after eating meat, raw milk products or eggs, for example.

Zoonoses are caused by different types of pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. The animals or humans do not have to be sick themselves, they can also carry the pathogen and therefore still cause infection to others. As far as the transmission of infections from calves to humans, we examine each stage in the production process to ascertain where those hazards pose the greatest risk and then take measures. These could be zoonoses, such as some E. Coli strains, Salmonella, Listeria, MRSA and ringworm.

Heating

Most of the raw materials used undergo a heating process before or during the production of milk substitutes. Zoonoses do not survive this heating process. This minimises the risk of zoonoses being transmitted through milk substitutes. The risk of zoonotic contamination from other feeds, such as muesli, is also very low. Muesli has a high dry matter content, as a result of which any zoonoses cannot or can hardly grow (or proliferate). We carry out tests on raw materials and finished products to eliminate risks via our Safety Guard quality system.

Hygiene measures

The use of hygiene sluices is essential in farming, as are other hygiene measures by veal farmers and other stall operators, such as veterinarians. We strongly recommend applying good personal hygiene: washing hands after contact with calves and/or manure, as well as wearing clean work clothes. In addition, pest control is essential. Not only to minimise the risk of stall fires, but especially to prevent transmission of diseases through these animals.

Temperature control

In the meat processing link, we ensure the temperature of the veal is kept under control by applying automatic temperature control in the cold stores. A closed cold chain is maintained until the product reaches the client or consumer. Consumers are advised to heat the meat products thoroughly before consumption.

Recalls

One indicator to determine whether meat products and animal feed have been produced responsibly and safely is the number of recalls (by a supplier). There were 16 recalls in our chain in 2023.

In all cases, the recalls occurred at our meat processing companies. In these recalls, meat was recalled because of a (possible) violation of food safety standards, or after an (alleged) administrative error. Thanks to our effective track and trace system, the recalls were of limited magnitude and it was possible to take action with buyers quickly.

There has been little scope at our Dutch meat processing companies over the past year to carry out risk assessments and to assess whether or not a recall is necessary on that basis. The reason for this is tightening up of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority’s policy. Breaching a standard almost always leads to a recall nowadays. Even if thorough risk analyses show there is no food safety risk, for example, in the case of administrative issues. Of the recorded GFL notifications and possible recalls in 2023, it is also very likely that there was no increased risk to food safety. Reports were based primarily on the precautionary principle and/or related to the regulator's zero tolerance policy. In order to safeguard the quality of our products at all times and to remove any doubt about this completely, the VanDrie Group has of course implemented any request for notification and or recall. In doing so, buyers are always fully informed of the underlying cause.

Outcome of NVWA inspection

Our Dutch meat-processing companies, Ameco, ESA, Ekro and T. Boer & zn are under the permanent supervision of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). This entails constant monitoring of important issues, such as animal welfare or hygienic working practices. In addition to this permanent supervision, the NVWA conducts inspections (a total of 4,941 of the aforementioned companies) and publishes its data publicly on its website. The compliance rate at the four companies was as high as 99.8% in 2022. We therefore meet the demands placed on us to a large extent. Nevertheless, a few shortcomings that are subject to fines under the Dutch Animals Act were identified.

The regulator applies a zero tolerance policy at our meat processing companies. Even for process components where this does not appear to be a requirement from an animal welfare or food safety perspective. Increasingly, the regulator is compelled to allow public interests to guide its decision-making. And because public interests are not based solely on facts, the situation increasingly arises where not only risk but perceptions also influence the establishment of shortcomings. We will therefore increasingly challenge instances of unjustified decisions in court. Fortunately, case law also shows that findings do not always prove to be justified.