Product Safety and Quality Policy
At Darling Ingredients, product safety and quality are fundamental to creating sustainable pharmaceutical, food, feed and fuel ingredients and are supported by our three core values: integrity, transparency and entrepreneurship. Management's commitment to product safety and quality is demonstrated by our ongoing investment in our people, programs and infrastructure.
As a global leader in the marketplace, Darling Ingredients is dedicated to:
- Providing quality products that are safe for their intended use,
- Meeting or exceeding customer expectations,
- Complying with all applicable regulations, and
- Continuously improving our products, product safety & quality culture and services.
All locations train employees at least annually on product safety using training modules available on internal platforms that are accessible to individual employees. Such training is mandatory and the modules are developed from the food safety procedures laid down in prerequisite programs to Hazard Analysis Risk Based Preventive Controls (HARPC) for the U.S. and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans for our international business units. Prerequisite programs for HARPC are Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs) and for HACCP are Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).
Monitoring of product safety performance is documented as specified by our written CGMPs/GMPs and verified by third party certifications, as well as customer, authority and internal audits. In addition to audits, all locations keep close track of their customer complaints. All complaints are handled with corrective and preventive measures, so as to continuously improve the quality and safety of our products and services.
Risk assessments to identify hazards to be controlled are an essential part of HARPC/HACCP plans and required in the U.S. under the Food Safety Modernization Act and in the international sites by the National authorities. Each Darling facility has one or more HARPC/HACCP plan with one or more preventive control/critical control point validated to control or prevent hazards identified in the hazard analysis/risk assessment as needing to be controlled or prevented. Such risk based hazard analyses are science and experience based and are reviewed on an annual basis or at every change in the process. Each production site is also required to have a business continuity plan and a recall plan. Facilities are required to test their emergency response plan by conducting at least one mock recall exercise each year.
March 2024