Uniform standard for quality assurance and food safety

Royal Greenland complies with the international standards for quality assurance.

Supplier auditing has been a regular component of retailer systems and procedures for many years. The quality departments at the individual retailers and wholesalers carry out these audits. But ever-increasing requirements from consumers, new obligations for retailers and wholesalers, stricter regulatory requirements and globalisation of product delivery made this task almost impossible. Many retailers therefore decided to develop their own uniform standard for quality assurance and food safety. This resulted in the following standards: the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the International Food Standard (IFS).
Additionally, some of the sites are certified for traceability and can produce and pack MSC fish and shellfish.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC)

The BRC is a British standard for food safety used by companies that export food to Great Britain. The leading English retailers agreed to develop a standard for approval of suppliers.

The BRC food standard consists of requirements organised into six groups, including an auto-control programme. In addition, there are requirements regarding quality management, company environment, buildings, maintenance, transport and product-, process- and personnel control.

The BRC certification is valid for one year.

More information is available at the BRC website. 

The International Food Standard (IFS)

The associated members of the German retail market federation, Hauptverband des Deutschen Einzelhandels, and its French counterpart, the Fédération des Entreprises du Commerce et de la Distribution, have developed a quality- and food-safety standard for retailers' brand foods, known as IFS Food. This standard is intended to enable assessment of suppliers' food safety and quality in accordance with a uniform procedure.

The IFS certification is valid for one year.

More information is available at the IFS website.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

Unilever and the World Wildlife Foundation established the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in 1997. In 1999, the MSC was made independent of both organisations. The MSC environmental standards for sustainable fishery are based on the FAO Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The standard is constantly reviewed and monitored by an independent group of fishery experts from around the world. The MSC standard is based on three principles: sustainable fishing, minimising of environmental impact and effective control.

An MSC-certified company has the right to use the characteristic blue logo. The purpose of the logo is to help consumers choose companies that support sustainable fisheries.

The MSC certification is valid for 5 years. During this period, the plant will be visited at least once a year in order to ensure that it continues to meet the MSC standard.

More information is available at the MSC website.

Certifications

 Suppliers and enterprises seeking certification according to the IFS and the BRC standards are assessed by an independent certification body. In this way, all parties involved remain independent of each other. The certifying body contributes to ensuring the credibility of the system and retailers can trust that the system is consistent. It is not legally necessary to be certified. The quality assurance is limited by the extent of the standard.

At Royal Greenland, we ensure the quality of our products through our own channels and by working with the authorities. We have also obtained certification for many of our products at various production sites. At Royal Greenland, we work continuously to obtain more certifications.

Certifications at our production sites

Please activate the links to view the newest certificates

Canada (Mantane) – BRC, MSC scope for production of frozen cooked and peeled shrimps.

Denmark (Aalborg) – BRC, IFS and MSC scope for packing of frozen shrimp (shell-on and cooked and peeled), cray fish tails and marinated frozen shrimp.

Denmark (Glyngøre) – IFS and MSC scope for production and packing in brine and MA packing (Modified Atmosphere packing) of brined seafood products. Production and packing of breaded fish.

Denmark (Trading) - MSC scope for supply.

Greenland (Ilulissat) – BRC scope forproduction of frozen, cooked and peeled shrimp.

Greenland (Sisimiut) - BRC scope for production of frozen, cooked and peeled shrimp.

Greenland (Paamiut) – BRC scope forproduction of frozen, cooked and peeled shrimp.

Germany (Willhemshaven) – BRC, IFS and MSC scope for production of fish fingers (pre-fried), shaped portions (sawn, shaped, breaded, pre-fried and non-pre-fried), fish portions with toppings, breaded and non-breaded portions (sawn, pre-fried and non-pre-fried), fish cakes, battered portions (sawn or shaped, battered portions (sawn or shaped, battered, pre-fried), packing of natural fillets in bags.

Poland (Koszalin) – BRC, IFS and MSC scope for production of fish fingers (pre-fried), filleting, breaded and non-breaded portions (pre-fried and non-pre-fried), fish cakes, battered portions (battered, pre-fried), packing of natural fillets in bags, fish in sauce, fish soups, stuffed fish products and fish tournedos.