Ensuring Product Safety and Quality Control
Sustainability Management
Material ESG Issues
Food Safety and Health
Sustainability Areas
Priority Actions
Issue recognition
As the world population continues to increase and the food supply chain becomes more global, there is growing interest in food safety and quality. Food safety incidents and quality issues do not just affect consumers’ health directly, but erode trust in the food supply chain, posing a risk of significant social impact on companies and industries. Therefore, companies supplying raw materials and food ingredients play a vital role in ensuring food safety and quality. As the Fuji Oil Group engages in the entire process from product design through raw material procurement, manufacture and shipping, right through to the final products that consumers eat, we recognize that we have a huge responsibility.
Risk management initiatives
Quality management systems behind food safety
Quality management systems
To ensure that the Fuji Oil Group Basic Policy of Safety, Quality and Environment is applied to business activities, since the early 1990s, our Group companies have been building and strengthening quality management systems by acquiring ISO 9001 (the international standard for quality management systems), FSSC 22000 (the international standard for food safety management systems) or similar certifications. In addition, the Group follows the Safety, Quality and Environment Management Regulations and Rules for Quality Assurance to periodically monitor the management status of each Group company through safety, quality, and environmental audits.
In our Group, customer complaints and quality-related inquiries are received by the Group’s sales division, customer service desks and contact forms on our website. This information is examined by the Quality Assurance Department or other teams responsible for quality assurance at each Group company and then further investigated by the relevant departments. From there, the department responsible for the quality-related issues carries out checks, and the sales division provides a response to the customer.
Each Group company also collects and analyzes data on the customer complaints they receive. Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. aggregates and analyzes this data, and reports it to the Management Committee Meeting for sharing across the entire Group.
We have also built a Group-wide network of quality managers and introduced a platform for information sharing, with the aim of improving the quality assurance systems of Group companies. This network enables initiatives, best practices, and management know-how to be rolled out across organizational boundaries within the Group, as well as being used to share experiential insights and updates on the latest food regulations and international trends in food.
These actions help us to reduce and eliminate new issues and potential risks related to product safety and quality, and make continuous improvements toward higher standards of safety and customer trust. Furthermore, this allows us to resolve problems that do arise more quickly and collaboratively by sharing analytical methods and dispatching experts, avoiding any inconvenience to our customers.
Figure: Fuji Oil Group quality managers’ information sharing network
Image links to a PDF file（101KB）
Acquisition of management system certifications
We are working to obtain and maintain international certification of our quality and food safety management systems to ensure proper management and ongoing improvement.
See the following page for the status of management system certifications.
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Certification Information
Risk management methods for food safety
Our Group companies and their relevant organizational units manage and respond to food safety risks as part of the Group’s overall risk management system.*
For details on our risk management system, please see the page below.
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* Business risks
Food safety-related risks and countermeasures
In FY2025, the risk assessment once again identified food safety-related risks, including contamination with foreign matter, allergens and inappropriate raw materials. We have been working to reduce these risks by acquiring and maintaining certifications for food safety and quality management systems, conducting focused evaluations, providing guidance and implementing measures to mitigate and avoid these risks through internal audits, and intensifying the implementation of 3S and 5S methodologies.
We are making every effort to ensure the effectiveness and validity of our frameworks and procedures by systematically conducting product recall training and traceability verification.
We have established a system to promptly communicate to management based on our crisis response regulations in the event of a significant quality incident, such as when our products pose (or have the potential to become) a health hazard to consumers, or when there is a violation (or potential violation) of food-related regulations in the country where our products are sold.
EducationGRI:403-5
Within the Group, the Quality Assurance Department or the department in charge of quality assurance at each Group company plans and provides appropriate training to employees to further raise quality awareness in accordance with local conditions. For example, Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. supports activities at each plant conducted in accordance with the action guidelines and holds lectures on hygiene and other matters. 77 employees, primarily from production sites, physically attended a lecture on hygiene in FY2025. The lecture was also streamed online for the benefit of employees in remote locations. In addition, every November we participate in Quality Month, which is organized by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers, the Japanese Standards Association, and other organizations. During Quality Month, we conduct various activities focusing on predefined themes to raise quality awareness among our employees.
Group companies outside Japan also hold awareness-raising events, such as Food Safety and Quality Month at Fuji Oil (Zhaoqing) Co., Ltd. (China), Quality and ESG Day at Harald Indústria e Comércio de Alimentos Ltda (Brazil), and Food Safety & Quality Week at Fuji Global Chocolate (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia).
A food quality training session at Fuji Oil (Zhaoqing) Co., Ltd. (China)
Product labelingGRI:417-1,417-2
Product labeling requirements vary considerably depending on the country where the product is sold. The Quality Assurance Department or the department in charge of quality assurance at each Group company collects information to ensure that product labels comply with the laws and regulations of each country and region.
At Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., the Quality Assurance Department collects information daily on relevant laws and regulations, and issues updates on any revisions to the relevant departments on a daily basis, in order to ensure that these revisions are promptly and accurately reflected in product labels. We also have a system in place to ensure that the staff in the development, production, and quality assurance departments check the content of product labels before printing them to avoid any errors that would violate laws or regulations. We strive to enhance transparency by disclosing information to our customers in a timely manner through product specifications and the Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. website.
In FY2025, no serious labeling violations occurred at Group companies in or outside Japan.
Metrics and targetsGRI:416-2
: At least 90% complete, : At least 60% complete, : Less than 60% complete
| FY2025 Goals | FY2025 Results | Self-assessment |
|---|---|---|
| No serious quality-related complaints* received | No serious quality-related complaints received | |
| Strengthen communication with quality managers at Group companies and promote a food safety culture and the sharing of quality-related information | Shared information about each company’s quality actions on specific themes, including the findings of internal audits conducted by Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. |
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* Incidents concerning food products that are harmful to health or violate the law, and require a recall.
Analysis
There were no serious quality-related complaints (recalls) in FY2025 thanks to efforts to maintain hygiene at production sites. We have eliminated non-conformities identified by safety and quality patrols, internal audits and audits by external organizations, and continuously implemented corrective and preventive measures to prevent recurrence of previous customer complaints. Moreover, the quality-related information sharing platform we developed to improve quality assurance levels and share quality information across the Group has now made it possible to send and share quality information across companies and national borders. We also make efforts to raise quality assurance levels by creating opportunities for quality managers to learn from other companies by sharing examples from their own company on specific topics.
Next steps
We are again aiming for no serious quality-related complaints in FY2026. To achieve this goal, our challenge is to reduce all quality-related complaints and improve the level of quality assurance in Group companies. To address these issues, we set the following goals for FY2026:
- Implement activities to further raise employee quality awareness and food safety awareness in order to achieve zero serious quality-related complaints
- Strengthen communication with quality managers at Group companies and promote a food safety culture and the sharing of quality-related information