CDO-Foodsphere gets HACCP certificate

The Agriculture Department has accorded the much covted Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) compliance to meat processing firm CDO-Foodsphere, Inc.

The recognition was handed down by National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC) Executive Director Efren C. Nuestro to Amelita D. Cuna, vice president for manufacturing of CDO-Foodsphere, at a recent turnover ceremony held at the NMIC head office in Diliman, Quezon City.

The certificate recognizes CDO-Foodsphere’s product Bibbo! Hotdog to have complied with the stringent rules and procedures required by the international food safety standard. It is now the second hotdog product in the country with the HACCP seal of approval.

HACCP is a preventive and systematic approach used worldwide to protect food supply against hazards to human health. Being synonymous to global food safety, it is recognized and recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-UN as the most effective way to prevent food-borne illness.

As a FAO-UN recognized system, it addresses biological, chemical and physical hazards by anticipating occurrence of such. HACCP is a preventive approach and not a finished product inspection method.

"HACCP is a pro-active process control system by which food quality is ensured in every aspect of food manufacturing from raw materials management to the physical distribution of a product," said Nuestro, adding that most countries of the world have already adopted HACCP as an important quality seal in food trading.

"The rules are stringent for a product or for a meat plant to comply with in this global food safety standard. HACCP has become mandatory among "AAA" meat processing plants in the Philippines by virtue of Memorandum Order No. 9 of the Agriculture Department," he said.

"Many meat processors that have been previously rated "AAA" or whose products are qualified for global trade have requested NMIC for downgrading to "AA" rank or whose products are only allowed for domestic consumption, because they could not meet the rigidity of the HACCP accreditation process," he added.

CDO-Foodsphere’s technoplant has been adjudged three times as the Best Meat Processing Plant in the country under the "AAA" category by a composite team of experts from the NMIC, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Interior and Local Government.