Sustainability Policy
Safety & health
The well-being and safety of our employees is of paramount importance to our success.
- Employ screening programs to ensure employee safety and well-being and have an active safety committee in place.
- Routinely invite Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) to audit our facility in an effort to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Provide superior healthcare options to our employees and their families. Offer an employee assistance plan to employees that provides support for those experiencing personal or work place problems. The program also provides regular newsletters that educate on current health information.
Product safety
We take a proactive position on food safety and have implemented many programs to protect the integrity of the ingredients we supply.
- Frequently submit our ISO9001:2000 certified facility and operations to audits by customers and respected third parties, including the American Institute of Baking (AIB), GMA-SAFE, FDA, and Maryland Department of Agriculture.
- Voluntarily established a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) system in all manufacturing areas.
- Operate according to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and perform annual employee training on the topic.
- Voluntarily submitted our supply chain practices to validation by Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) and received more stringent tier two certification and continue to actively participate in this program.
- Perform comprehensive quality audits of our suppliers.
- Routinely challenge our product recall process to ensure 100% traceability within our required time frame.
- Avoid accidental contamination of our allergen-free products by manufacturing in a dedicated allergen-free facility.
- Manufacture our products according to kosher and halal food laws in a facility dedicated to those requirements.
- Encourage the employees in our quality department to become certified by the American Society for Quality.
Environmental responsibility
Many of our products are derived from natural resources such as seeds, seaweed, and exudates from trees; as such, we are acutely aware of the need to use natural resources in a responsible manner and ensure the sustainability of the crops.
- In the case of gum acacia, we have worked with our suppliers to establish a training program for the harvesters that emphasizes ways of harvesting gum without causing permanent damage to the trees.
- We provide a full line of certified organic gums and custom stabilizer blends under the authority of the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Organic practices touch every aspect of the supply chain, including harvest of the gum, segregation of raw materials, manufacturing processes, maintenance of our facility and grounds, and pest control.
- Sustainability is considered when equipment is designed or replaced and, where possible, energy efficient options are used.
- Every effort is made to maximize efficiency in order to limit the use of energy and other resources.
- When possible, recycled paper and soy inks are used. An active paper recycling program is in place at our facility.
Business integrity
There is more to running a successful business than balance sheets and expense reports.
- Annually train every employee on business ethics and compliance issues to ensure adherence to established policies.
- Created a well drilling program in the gum growing region in Africa in order to make fresh drinkable water readily available to the harvesters and their families.
7/2/08