The wet pet food facility at Inspired Pet Nutrition’s manufacturing site at IPN Kinmel has achieved Grade A accreditation from the British Retail Consortium.
The whole process was completed in under four months and was done without the need for a pre-audit. The accreditation also means the site in North Wales is now compliant with BRC’s Global Standards which are used by more than 25,000 certificated suppliers in over 130 countries worldwide.
The site achieved BRC accreditation for its dry pet food production two years ago and the bakery and the wet site both now have Grade A status.
This latest success is a further boost for IPN’s Harringtons FreshCook wet dog food range, which is the fastest growing brand in its sector. In addition, following the business winning major new listings and, latterly, own-label contracts worth several £millions pa, the workforce has grown to around 75 employees after the addition of a third wet filling shift and second packing shift. IPN Kinmel is also keen to explore other wet food co-manufacturing projects for third parties.
James Lawson, managing director, said: “We pride ourselves as having one of the most efficient, human-grade quality, wet food kitchens in the industry and as our easy-peel tray and FreshCook process is proving so successful, we feel it is the right time to offer our services to other retailers and brands around the globe. Sales of our wet pet food products are up 50% compared with this time last year.”
The audit process included all stages of the manufacturing process, including the intake of raw materials, wet food processing, packing, quality assurance, food safety compliance and traceability systems.
Dominic Whelan, site operations manager, said: “To receive Grade A status in such a short time is a huge endorsement of the top quality production facilities and processes at IPN Kinmel and just reward for the hard work put in by the team.
“The certification also gives us an internationally recognised mark of food quality, safety and responsibility and opens further up co-manufacturing opportunities with pet food companies both in the UK and abroad.”
An additional benefit of achieving BRC accreditation is that the site now meets the standards required by the Global Food Safety Initiative. The GFSI’s benchmarking process is now the most widely-recognised in the global food industry and enables firms to pursue a ‘once certified, recognised everywhere’ approach. This lowers inefficiencies caused by a duplication of audits and also helps reduce trade barriers.
Left to Right: Dominic Whelan (site operations manager), Graeme Jones (procurement & planning director), Alex Yem (operations QA manager) and Martin Barlow (production manager)
