Sodexo's Tillery Valley wins gold for hygiene standards

The scheme, a local authority and Food Standards Agency partnership initiative, was set up to recognise food premises that have attained and maintained high standards of cleanliness and food hygiene practices. To achieve a Gold Food Hygiene Award, a business must have an exceptional standard of hygiene and an extensive food safety management system with one or more members of staff holding advanced food hygiene training - with full working knowledge of the principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). Tillery Valley produces more than a million meals each week, predominantly for use in the healthcare and education sectors. Chris Woodbridge, Tillery Valley technical director, said: "In 17 years in the food industry I have never seen a large food business like Tillery Valley achieve such an honour. It is testimony to the importance we place on hygiene and food safety here. "We had four unannounced inspections in total, during which critical control points on the site from heat treatment to packing and delivery were assessed. We train our staff in the standards we expect and have quality assurance technicians on every shift. "We also have a site technical manager and a quality assurance manager who set the standards within the operational areas. So all our team knows exactly what they are meant to be doing and the procedures which have to be followed." Earlier this year, Tillery Valley also received the Carbon Trust Standard for improved carbon efficiency through its environmental management programme.