ONE of the local leaders in the rice industry, Nand Persaud and Company Limited Rice Milling Complex, has improved its status on the local and international market as the company was accredited with the ISO 22000:2005 certification.

According to a press statement from the company, the certificate was issued by DQS, an accreditation body from Germany.

The company started the implementation process in July of 2015 with guidance from the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.

The company said one of the requirements of the ISO 22000:2005 standard was for the company to establish a food safety management team.
In that regard, the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mohindra Persaud and the Chairman of the company, Ragindra Persaud, appointed Mahendra Prasad to work along with them and a team of highly-skilled individuals.

Prasad and the team spearheaded the entire process and are fully responsible for the operation of the Food Safety Management System (FSMS).

The company began by conducting a gap analysis. The gap analysis was done to determine the company’s current level of compliance towards the ISO 22000:2005 standards.

“From the gap analysis, all the areas that needed improvement were identified. Some of these included; establishing documents required by the FSMS, upgrading infrastructure, equipment and machinery, and providing training to the staff both internally (in-house) and externally (government agencies),” said the company.

This certificate is evidence that the parboiled and white rice manufactured by Nand Persaud & Company Limited Rice Milling Complex, is produced to the standard which follows all the rules and regulations of the Food Safety Management System (ISO 22000:2005) which assures that the rice being consumed is safe and of the highest quality.

“Nand Persaud & Company Limited would like to extend utmost gratitude to all staff for their continuous support and hard work in achieving its ISO certification. We would also like to thank our customers for their loyalty towards our products,” the company said.