If you asked us to make a top three list of the main quality requirements for our raw materials, we would put food safety first, second and third. "After all, we are only a few links away from the human food chain," says quality manager Jaco Scheurwater.
There’s countless food safety laws and certifications out there and we comply with them all, and yet we believe that real quality goes beyond compliance alone. Jaco: “Open and proactive communication would come a close fourth. Take transparency about harvest specs, for instance, or the properties of our products. We’re committed to maximising quality as a knowledge partner.”
We process about 300 shipments of animal feed ingredients every day, and while we always strive for the best, it’s an illusion that we get perfect scores across the board. Jaco: “It may happen that a batch of soy meal has a protein content of 44% instead of the agreed upon 46%, for example, and grain quality is highly dependent on the weather. Unlike soy meal and rapeseed meal, this product comes in straight from the farm. After a few wet weeks, the harvest may be underweight or have too high a moisture content. When that happens, it’s only natural to be open and transparent to our customers.”
“We thoroughly analyse and test our raw materials to gain insight into their properties”
Before you can communicate about quality, there’s one particularly important step to take. “We thoroughly analyse and test our raw materials to gain insight into their properties,” Jaco explains. “Soy, for example, undergoes a protein analysis, so we can tell our customers exactly what to expect. To measure is to know, but the customer will only ever know if we’re open about it. That’s why you can always count on us to be entirely transparent.”
