Quality and hygiene are top concerns

Hamburg Wholesale Market scores with important certificates: following its successful re-certification in June 2008, when compliance with the stricter demands of the new standard DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 was attested, the largest centre of fresh produce in the north is proud to announce that it gained its HACCP Hygiene certificate in September 2009.

The details of the certificates

DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 is a measure of the quality management system in operation at Hamburg Wholesale Market for Fruit, Vegetables and Flowers.

North Germany’s largest fresh produce centre offers its traders modern, well-run facility management, certified as meeting latest demands and operated by qualified employees whose thoughts and actions are primarily guided by what customers want. During the course of the 2008 re-certification process, the auditors praised the market’s advertising and promotion activities, its monitoring of customer satisfaction and engagement in a variety of institutions such as the non-profit Association for the Promotion of the Interests of German Wholesale Markets (GFI) or the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM), as the international federation is called. In view of the updated demands formulated in the ISO standard, this is to be recognized as a clear sign that the market’s relationship with clients points the way ahead and is a very positive reflection on its own market-oriented services.

The DIN standard EN ISO 22000 describes the hygiene management system on the basis of HACCP criteria (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points): in order to guarantee high food and hygiene quality standards, Hamburg Wholesale Market and the market traders have always firmly believed in the importance of an extensive quality management practice. In recent years all players at the Wholesale Market, and especially the market’s clientele, have demanded a steadily increasing degree of quality and hygiene. At the same time the EU has developed new, binding regulations. This was welcomed by Hamburg Wholesale Market, because for some time they have been striving to put comprehensive hygiene certification in place. The aim was to gain proof of the market’s good food hygiene standards by obtaining appropriate certification. The North German fresh produce centre plays a pioneering role in terms of hygiene management at Germany’s wholesale markets: for example, Hamburg Wholesale Market was active in the EU Working Group set up by the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM) and was instrumental in drafting the WUWM Good Practice Guide to hygiene at Wholesale Markets.

In April 2010 Hamburg Wholesale Market become one of Hamburg’s ÖKOPROFIT enterprises. For an entire year the largest centre of fresh produce in the north participated in the 13th introductory course to ÖKOPROFIT, a model environmental programme for business premises.

In May 2009 Hamburg Wholesale Market embarked on an extensive programme of facility refurbishment. Everyone agreed that environmental considerations should be included when planning the work that needed to be done.  Therefore the centre of fresh produce decided to take part in the “Environmental project for integrated eco-technology”, or ÖKOPROFIT for short. This is a certification system designed to develop measures that will help to lower energy consumption and operating costs for business enterprises – and benefit the environment.

Hamburg Wholesale Market set up an environment team whose members, together with 14 other participants in the programme, attended a variety of workshops on various aspects of environment protection in the workplace. At the same time the Wholesale Market team held talks with experts who visited the premises to discuss possible savings. Based on results, the team developed an effective environment programme. The first steps have already been successfully implemented, for example the lighting has been renewed in various parts of the Wholesale Market hall and the heating system has been fitted with the latest pump technology. The measures introduced to date have enabled the Wholesale Market to reduce its annual consumption of electricity by around 267,500 kWh.

The Wholesale Market has joined the ÖKOPROFIT Club so that it can develop its environmental programme further. At the club, people from the market can talk to other members, hear about the latest developments in environmental law and renew certification once a year.