We strive for quality and food safety, which are the foundations of the reputation capital of our banners and the sustainability of our activities. To do so, we not only count on our Quality and Food Safety technicians, but also on external auditors and independent and accredited laboratories.
The Quality and Food Safety Guidelines describe various aspects of the products we sell, in line with the following policies:
We invest in, certify and monitor our processes, facilities and equipment.
We perform regular analyses on our in-store products and equipment in order to comply with our Policies and international standards.
We build our employees' ability in order to have effective control over the quality and safety of our products.
We audit our stores and Distribution Centres based on international reference standards in the area of Quality and Food Safety.
Around 10,000 internal audits were conducted on stores and Distribution Centres in 2019, complemented by around 110,000 analyses of work surfaces and handlers, among others, and more than 63,000 product analyses.
The following certifications were renewed/maintained in 2019:
All the Polish Distribution Centres renewed their certification for handling organic products, according to Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007.
We also analysed work surfaces, equipment and product handlers, and air and water when applicable, aimed at controlling microbiological risks.
We invest in building the technical skills of our employees in Food Hygiene and Safety in order to ensure the effective control of our products.
In 2019, a total of 113,177 hours of training on food safety were provided to 32,498 employees.
Information on audits and product analyses, microbiological analyses and training on food safety was confirmed by an external and independent entity for the Group’s 2019 Annual Report.