Last year, Aquafresh accomplished the unique feat in becoming the only table water brand to be awarded ISO 22000 certification among local brands in Sri Lanka. However the company behind Aquafresh, Access Natural Water (PVT) Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Access International did not stop in raising the bar of quality. Many companies would have been satisfied with their achievements and sat on their laurels and carried on for many years.
But not Access Natural Water. Upgrading of quality comes naturally to them and it is part of their company's business philosophy. After all there is a fair investment that has to be made in terms of upgrading of production processes and procedures, product tests etc. To Access Natural Water, constant improvement of quality standards is a necessity that drives their food business. Compliance to an International Quality Standard was indeed yesterday's news as far as the company was concerned. The Company had to look to the future; the focus had to be shifted from regional markets to international markets. Thus the next standard on line that had to be achieved or crossed was Dutch HACCP. The Company set their sights on it and achieved it.
The Dutch HACCP covers all aspects of quality in the area of Food safety hygiene. Furthermore it is very time consuming. and Access Natural Water was able to comply with the standard during a short period of time.
At a recent interview, Director, Chief Operating Officer of Access Natural Water, Mr. Shanil Perera stated that the HACCP system could identify all imaginable and reasonably expected hazards, even where failures have not previously been experienced. This process has definitely changed the very paradigm of quality control at Access Natural Water. The system accommodates the changes that may be periodically introduced by the company through means of upgrading of machinery and improvements in processing procedures and technological developments related to the product.
The Dutch HACCP quality standard will make Aquafresh comply with quality standards followed in anywhere else in the world particularly in Europe. The management of Access Natural Water is now confident that Aquafresh could compete with any global giant .
Mr. Shanil Perera further stated that he would make every endeavor to continually add new standards to protect the interests of the consumer. "We will take every measure to improve the safety of the product. Today health is so vital for the nation. It is not a matter of our product being superior in the market place.
We want to make sure that the spring water we supply is free from any unhealthy elements, may it be microbiological, chemical or in any other physical form. Our responsibility is to serve the consumer and the quality certificates we carry are by no means a egoistic decoration. It serves as a promise to the customer that we are supplying a product which is so safe." he further added.
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