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Model companies can grow to such an extent!

A promotion project for food safety and security in Guangdong Province has been implemented as a JICA grassroots cooperation program (a type of regional proposal) in China, where there have been quite a few food safety incidents.

The project has taken place over three years from fiscal 2012. Seminars have been held in Japan and specialists have been dispatched for the project, which is built on two pillars that nurture: government administrators involved in food safety and model companies to serve as hubs of human-resource development.

This also involves timing on exactly when to make the local efforts for food safety and security, as well as selecting two companies that are highly enthusiastic. In the end, the project turned out to be extensive and was evaluated for being highly distinctive, being appraised by managers at the JICA-China office, as it is rare for a project to come out with successful results within the given timeframe.

Fostering human-resource hubs for food security: 2 model companies

A variety of activities were conducted during this project. I would like in particular to introduce the two model companies. 広東粤微食用菌技術有限公司 makes a variety of health food products and confectionaries from ingredients in mushrooms. It pushed forward with Kaizen applied to its cookie production line, which served as a model line. 広東宝桑園健康食品有限公司 makes health food products, juices and other products from silkworms and mulberries as ingredients. It worked on Kaizen for its mulberry juice production line, which served as a model line.

Producing health food products and confectionaries from ingredients in mushrooms 広東粤微食用菌技術有限公司 This company was established from the Guangdong Provincial Microbe Research Laboratory. It mainly applies the lab’s results in its products and sells them. The company has also stepped forward as a candidate to be a model company, and it has adopted its own Kaizen improvements from a variety of things it has learned, after its line manager participated in seminars in Japan for two consecutive years.

The company has poured its efforts into and tackled a variety of tasks, setting the four points of equipment for hygiene during food production, management and control at critical control points in the manufacturing process, visualization of areas where display is insufficient and human-resource development, which should be resolved as an issue. In particular, with regard to Kaizen for equipment for hygiene during food production, it has cited the following 12 points that reflect the seminar’s results.

Points that reflect the seminar’s results

  1. Switchover to shoe covers that are easy to slip over shoes and don’t come off easily during inspection trips (Seminars in Japan: Business Management: Hyogo Prefecture-Guangdong Province Programs on Food Safety)
  2. Increasing the amount of illustrations of written procedures on wearing work uniforms
  3. Stepping up the installation of diagrams (illustrated notice boards) of goods that are not to be brought into manufacturing areas
  4. Stepping up the installation of diagrams (illustrated notice boards) of hand washing and disinfection
  5. Modifications for creating large hand-washing areas and hand driers
  6. Increasing the amount of hygiene checks for everyone (with registration for each person)
  7. Modifications to have faucets operated automatically by sensors (phasing out conventional faucets)
  8. Switchover to foot-operated garbage bins
  9. Expanding change rooms (within work areas)
  10. Switchover to more advanced X-ray equipment (originally metal detectors) to detect foreign objects
  11. Adopting dedicated work uniforms in each work section
  12. Thorough inspections to find broken ultra-violet ray lamps

A scandal involving expired chicken meat from a company in Shanghai became a focus of attention in July 2014. Just as a sense a crisis was prevailing over food safety and security, NHK did a report.広東粤微食用菌技術有限公司 was introduced, and viewers were told how other Chinese companies had received guidance from Japan and were conducting careful hygiene management.

Mulberry juice: 広東宝桑園健康食品有限公司

This company is known for its宝桑園brand of mulberry juice. China Southern Airlines serves its juice made from the fruit. The company basically is not believed to have any problems with hygiene control, as it has acquired ISO9001 and HACCP.

However, during our first trip there, specialists indicated a number of points where Kaizen was necessary, including instances of workers wearing high-heel shoes instead of boots and insufficient disinfection of their fingers. Several executives, including the company’s president and vice president, from the factory came to Japan to participate in seminars before diligently starting to apply Kaizen.

The following seven points in particular were shared by participants during the final presentations held in Guangdong Province, as activities that reflect the seminars’ results.

Points that reflect the seminars’ results

  1. Kaizen from the aspect of hygiene management (the same kind of white boots for all workers’ footwear and color-coded work uniforms according to work content. Kaizen for hand-washing and disinfection steps and for equipment; displaying hand-washing methods in diagrams and photos; and voluntary recording of hand washing.)
  2. Kaizen related to records of critical control points (and rendering them not only in words but also diagrams and charts to make them easy to see)
  3. Compiling materials for enlightenment training (compiling booklets for visitors who come on field trips, accepting visitors, laying down pathways for them and creating bulletin board items for publicity/panels and visual materials).
  4. Creating a traceability system (A traceability system that covers raw materials to manufactured goods is now under construction.)
  5. Education and training for employees (manners and training for food safety at a companywide level and implementation of the training according to job types)
  6. Reinforcing 6S management at manufacturing sites (further efforts at keeping things tidy and in orderly)
  7. Reinforcing communication with consumers and publicity activities (accepting field trips at the company’s farms and sample tasting; opening antenna shops selling health food products; and participating in a variety of events)

We think both companies will continue their activities to serve as hubs for human-resource development and enlightenment involving food safety and security in Guangdong Province. They have already started to accept field trips. We would be overjoyed if we have made even a small contribution to food safety and security in that local area.

Akiko Sakai, International Department
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