Young's Seafood takes first prize, with Westbury Dairies second and the laboratory at Cadbury Trebor Bassett third after its response to the salmonella outbreak
Oxoid has announced the winners of the 2006/2007 Oxoid Food Safety Team of the year award.
Awarded to microbiology laboratories demonstrating excellence in the food and beverage industry, the £1000 first prize has been awarded to Young's Seafood, Grimsby, UK, whose entry demonstrated laboratory efficiencies that led to labour savings and cost reductions while increasing environmental awareness and improving standards of hygiene in the processing environment.
"We were very impressed by the teamwork demonstrated by Young's Seafood that led to the instigation of its 'Efficiencies Improvement Programme', said Cheryl Mooney, applications manager, food and industrial markets at Oxoid and chairman of the judging panel.
"Its revised, more efficient, working practices within the laboratory and the training initiatives devised for factory operatives and QA staff have led, not only to improvements in quality but also to enhanced morale, better staff retention and CLAS accreditation with no non-conformances.
We were delighted to award it first prize".
Second prize was awarded to the team at Westbury Dairies, Westbury, Wiltshire, UK.
The Westbury team impressed the judges with its contribution to the company becoming the first ISO 22000 accredited dairy in the world.
Despite a reduced workforce, improvements in laboratory efficiency were demonstrated and staff motivation was high.
The third prize was awarded to the food safety team at Cadbury Trebor Bassett laboratory in Chirk, North Wales.
The judges applauded the team for the way in which it had responded positively to well publicised difficulties within the Cadbury business.
Good teamwork and changes to working practices had resulted in measurable benefits, such as the achievement of a Grade A BRC Accreditation in May 2007, and the effort and commitment to training was also praised.
Westward Laboratories, Callington, Cornwall, UK was given a highly commended award for its excellence in customer service and their commitment to continuous improvement.
The winners will receive their awards later in 2007 at a ceremony to be held in the UK.
