No compromise

Mark Clouse received schooling at the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the US Army for over six years. Today, he subconsciously applies the values of a military man to his management style - strict and systematic, particularly on food safety issue.

As vice-president of Kraft International and area director for Kraft Foods' Greater China Businesses, he and his staff, suppliers and distributors stick to the motto "never compromise when it comes to food safety".

The company has put in place a comprehensive system of food quality control both in China and globally, which involves careful supplier management, scientific formula design, strict production and workflow management and control of product distribution.

"With the application of the latest technologies and a sound management system, we ensure the high quality of our products and manufacture food products that meet or exceed national safety standards," Clouse says.

Standards criteria

The world's second-largest beverage and food manufacturer has established a sophisticated global safety standard criteria. China, too, has national standards. When Kraft's standards clash with local ones, the company keeps in line with the higher standards, according to Clouse.

The use of trans-fats is an example. US-based Kraft has adopted new technologies to reduce trans-fats to minimum levels in order to meet the US Food and Drug Administration's safety standards, to which the company's standards comply. Though China lacks similar regulations, Kraft uses the same technology here.

He Jiantao, an official with the Beijing Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, says some of China's safety standards are higher than developed nations. "In China, only about 1,000 additives can be used during food manufacturing, while, in the US, the figure is 2,000," He says.

"There is no excuse," Clouse says. "We must keep our products in line with safety standards at the highest level."

Last year, Kraft and other multinationals Nestle, KFC, Heinz and Haagen-Dazs were put under the food safety spotlight in China, accused of double standards when it came to product quality in China compared to other countries.

Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental protection organization, reported last March that Kraft's Ritz biscuits contained genetically engineered (GE) soybeans. The company had previously agreed not to use GE ingredients in Europe, but hasn't done so in China, Greenpeace said.

In June 2006, Kraft announced that as of January 2007, all products produced on the Chinese mainland would contain no genetically modified organism (GMO) materials, in accordance with China's GMO policy.

Safety promotion

Kraft, which entered China in 1982, has been active expanding its business with joint venture establishments and brand acquisitions, while Clouse emphasizes that the food and beverage producer has always "put safety at the top of its concerns".

Actually, as wealthier Chinese consumers pay greater attention to food safety, Kraft is increasing its efforts to promote a safe and reliable image.

It cooperates with governmental departments and social organizations to conduct a string of food safety and nutritional education programs around the nation.

Last year, it won a bid to be the sole biscuit supplier of the National Sports Training Center.

On September 11, Kraft Foods Greater China, collaborating with the Beijing Food Association, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industrial Development, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce and Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau, sponsored a food safety seminar at a time when the capital city's food manufacturers were taking active part in the preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games.

More than 270 food producers pledged to ensure food safety with less than a year until the Games. Commitments were made by well-known manufacturers, including Beijing Sanyuan Foods Company Ltd, Beijing Huiyuan Beverage and Food Group and Beijing Zhangyi-yuan Tea Co Ltd.

During the seminar, Kraft not only shared its food safety standards and control systems, including its supplier, manufacturing, distribution control system and product recall system with participating governmental officials, experts and businesses, but it also led visits to its new biscuit plant, located in Southern Beijing's Yizhuang Economic & Technological Development Area.

With a total investment of $35 million, the new plant, Kraft's fourth manufacturing base on the Chinese mainland, is home to the company's latest technologies and processes needed to build a comprehensive food safety control system.

Concerning food safety, Clouse maintains that "no compromise" is a permanent solution.

(China Daily 09/24/2007 page8)