Quality and Safety※1、2
To deliver safe and high quality products, we have built and put into operation a comprehensive, quality-focused, food safety and quality management system based on the global recognized standards of FSSC 22000※3.
*1 Food Safety － remove any factors in food manufacturing which create risk to human health
*2 Food Quality － ensure the production of high quality food products that provide meaningful value to consumers
*3 FSSC 22000 － The Food Safety System Certification System 22000 is one of the international standards for food safety. It is recognized by the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) which promotes food safety within the global consumer goods distribution industry network CGF. In recent years, the number of certifications issued has increased not only on a global basis but also in Japan. Certification has been granted to 24 domestic production facilities of the Morinaga Milk group.
Quality Management System
Quality and safety checks
To maintain and improve safety and quality, we strictly follow FSSC 22000 requirements as well as our quality procedures all of which are confirmed by multiple audits.
- Periodic inspections and follow-up inspections by external auditors
- Plant inspections by internal auditors
- Audits by our Quality Assurance Department
In-house Education Program to Support Reliability
Morinaga Milk creates various opportunities for employee education in the belief "people (employees) create quality."
In order to deliver safe and reliability products to customers, a manufacturer must raise the quality-control awareness of all of its employees and improve their quality-maintenance skills. To heighten our employees' awareness of quality at Morinaga Milk, we always set quality control themes in our training programs for the departments in charge of production and offer training programs to nurture specialists.
We also offer training programs for all of our employees in departments not directly involved in production to ensure that they understand the importance of our activities to maintain and improve quality.
[Group training by career in manufacturing department]
We have established an incremental training system focused on the various functions of the technical employees at our head office, plants, and research laboratories to ensure that they master the skills and knowledge necessary for manufacturing at each level.
In addition to the group training shown in the figure below, we offer an "MACCP system" education program for every plant to equip employees with all of the skills necessary for quality control.
[Training to develop quality control specialists]
We also conduct training to develop experts in quality control in parallel with our training to develop production engineers.
（1）Measurement management practical training: The production of products requires an accurate weighing of the raw materials and verification that the quantity indicated on a product package matches the actual product quantity. This training teaches our employees the basics of metrology, the principles of measuring instruments, and the actual operations for calibration.
（2）Specialized training for safety and quality management: The quality control section conducts inspections at each plant to confirm and verify the quality of the products and the processes that produce them. Group training courses are conducted to improve the knowledge and skills of the quality control section staff and their managers at each plant. Also, our plant auditors receive periodic instruction through in-class and online training based on FSSC 22000 requirements.
（3）Training for microorganism test operators (basic/experts): Management of the microorganisms that contaminate food is an important food hygiene issue. Our employees learn about the properties and behaviors of microorganisms and the inspections they will be required to conduct as experts on microorganism management.
TopicFostering Production Engineers at "Morinaga Milk College"
Morinaga Milk College was opened in September 2002 as an internal educational institution in the manufacturing department tasked with "transferring skills" and "maintaining and improving quality technology."
Morinaga Milk College offers training programs for employees of different ages (at different stages of their careers): a "Hop-up course" for 2nd and 3rd year employees; a "Step-up course" for employees in their late 20s; and a selective "Jump-up course" for employees in their mid-30's. We also carry out "theme training" where trainees themselves can summarize what they have learned through training in different product categories in order to develop "teaching materials." These "teaching materials" are utilized for OJT, in-plant training, and machine maintenance for engineers who have not participated in training before.
Morinaga Milk College also contributes to development of young engineers through self-development support using e-learning, etc.