Quality Control System

BABY FOODS QUALITY CONTROL

OVKO FOODS CHARACTERISTICS

NOVOFRUKT, s.r.o. is a company with long-term experience in the field of infant`s foods production in Slovakia. Final products are entirely natural, offering a large scale of tastes: fruit purees, 

• vegetable purees, 
  
• blends of fruits and vegetables, 
  
• fruits and yoghurt, 
  
• fruits and curd cheese, 
  
• fruits and sour cream, 
  
• sugarfree fruit purees, 
  
• vegetable and meat squashes.
  

Baby foods (fruit purees, fruit and vegetable combinations and vegetable purees) are food products made of single fruit and vegetable purees, mixtures of fruits or vegetables, all finely strained and mixed with yoghurt, curd cheese or sour cream. They can contain sugar and they are usually fortified with vitamine C (10 mg/100g). Infant`s foods are pasteurised. 
They can contain starch which is added to thicken the puree (up to 2 %).

They do not contain:

• preservatives, 
  
• artificial aromas, and 
  
• colorants,
  
• allergens: gluten (with the exception of curd cheesefoods and foods containing biscuits, all OVKO baby foods are gluten free, which is crucial for preventing the development of celiac disease in infants and young children)
  
• sugar (sugarfree foods can contain saccharose)
  

Sugarfree fruit purees help prevent overfeeding infants and young children with sugar and thus developing obesity or glucose intolerance later in life. Main source of energy in these foods is simple monosaccharide fruit sugar called fructose.

Before being brought to the market, new baby foods are tested for their nutritional values by Slovak Medical University in Bratislava – Department of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, and by the chief expert in paediatrics at the Ministry of Health SR, who carries out clinical tests in order to set the minimal age adequate for consuming food products. 


NOVOFRUCT SK, s.r.o., Komárňanská cesta 13, 940 43 Nové Zámky

1.1. QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM OF INFANT`S FOOD

NOVOFRUKT SK, s.r.o. uses both internal and external laboratories in order to perform quality control of its products. 

The internal laboratories – microbiological and physical-chemical one, have been approved by the State Veterinary and Food Administration of the Slovak Republic by means of Decision No. 1155/2006-270 of 4. April 2006 as for the microbiological laboratory and Decision 2760-1/2005-270 of 13. July 2005 as for the physical-chemical laboratory. These decisions enable the tests of meat-based products to be performed and subsequently analysed in the internal laboratories of the company. 
Approvals have been issued for indefinite period of time.
At present, the company does not intend to establish its own accredited laboratories, since external contractors are hired for the needs of accredited analysis. 

Internal analysis, carried out in internal laboratories, and accredited analysis, carried out in accredited external laboratories, are both performed according to the laboratory testing schedule. 

Internal analysis:

• initial analysis (of input foods, ingredients, packaging and cover lids), 
  
• mid-analysis (of intermediate blends), and
  
• final analysis (of semi or final products), following the schedule for the year concerned.
  Laboratory analyses are performed by skilled and properly trained professionals.
  

External analysis:

• initial analysis (of input fruits and vegetables used in baby foods production) is focused on the content of pesticide residues, heavy metals and patuline. 
  
• final analysis concerns mainly the overall quality of the products and comprises microbiological analysis, tests for allergens, pesticide residues, heavy metals and mycotoxins (patuline). 
  

Our prior concern is to assure the highest quality and health safety of the products we manufacture.

External contractors are regularly audited by NOVOFRUCT SK and audit reports are carefully recorded. 

All manufacturing premises where baby foods, meat-based combinations and soups are produced have been approved by the corresponding state authorities: 

1. Manufacturing premises for fruit and vegetable-based baby foods have been approved by the Local Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic by the Decision No 635/2000/ Ţat.
2. Manufacturing premises for meat-based combinations and soups have been put into operation by Local Public Health Authority Decision No 1913/2004-OÚ and by the doc. No 4657/2004-420/1, issued by the State Veterinary and Food Administration of the Slovak Republic, which approves the production extension.

Manufacturing process and final products are monitored and checked by both the Ministry of Health of SR and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of SR. These institutions are entitled to carry out inspections and unplanned sampling of final products analysed by specific laboratory procedures. Inspections reports must be made in writing. 

Since 9. March 2005, NOVOFRUKT SK, s.r.o. has been following the standards of quality management system:

• ISO 9001:2000, currently ISO 9001:2008, 
  
• ISO 14001:2004 standard for environmental management systems, and 
  
• BSiOHSAS 18001:2007 standards for health and safety management.
  

In 2009, NOVOFRUCT, s.r.o. adopted three additional quality management sytems for food safety: 

• ISO 2200: 2005, 
  
• IFS (International Food Standard), and 
  
• BRC (Britis Retail Consorcium Technical Standard)
  

Regular annual checks are performed by means of internal and external audits (last audit was performed by the company SGS Slovakia in May 2010, by means of which the company was successfully certified with all of the above mentioned systems of quality management standards). Further enhancement of company`s development strategy and products quality is of primary importance for our management. Audits of our main business partners and contractors are regularly renewed and checked. 

Purity of foods processed within the company is assured by Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), which has been followed since 12 July 2004 with regard to baby fruit and vegetable purees and since 15. October 2004 regarding baby meals and soups. 

Good manufacturing practices, as well as high-level hygienic standards are met in all our manufacturing premises. Hygienic and sanitation requirements are closely followed and regular checks are performed to assure conformance with the requisite standards. At the same time, disinfection efficiency is monitored. 
These checks are performed on monthly basis by 5-member commission for hygiene and sanitation surveillance which assesses hygienic and sanitation levels and proposes correcting measures in order to eliminate identified deficiencies. General disinfestation is performed in all manufacturing areas and warehouses by external contractor. 

Other certificates: 
NATURALIS – organic products certification; 
DEMETER – biodynamic agriculture certification; 
KOSHER – certification for Jewish markets; 
sHALAL – products admissible under Islamic law.

Elaborated by: Ing. Mariana Mazúchová, Head of Service Quality Management, 

Nové Zámky, 10. February 2011.

NOVOFRUCT SK, s.r.o., Komárňanská cesta 13, 940 43 Nové Zámky