Food safety
General Mills adopts and applies the same high safety and quality standards everywhere we do business.
All employees are stewards of our brands, and food safety is integral to this mission. We spend five times the amount on food safety we spent five years ago, and our supplier audits have increased dramatically in recent years. In fiscal 2011, we conducted more than 800 supplier audits.
Operationally, product responsibility lies within the R&D and Marketing organizations. Responsibility for consumer health and safety, product and service labeling is held by the senior vice president of Supply Chain, senior vice president of R&D and the vice president of Quality and Regulatory Operations. Responsibility for Marketing communications is held by the Chief Marketing Officer.
In October 2011, we held our first “supplier school” – whose theme was “Protect-Educate- Partner” – to help our ingredient suppliers improve food safety, sanitation and quality management. We plan to hold more sessions in 2012 and beyond.
We are also working to build a safer global food system. We – along with several other food companies – are collaborating with the Partnership Training Institute to develop a food safety curriculum that can be broadly shared.
