Home>CSR>Consumer Issues>Ensuring Product Quality

Ensuring Product QualityEnsuring Product Quality

Philosophy and Framework for Product Safety and Peace of Mind

In order to sustain our business activities, it is vital that we engage in sustainable agriculture in a rich natural environment. It is also essential that we achieve a balance between a reliable system for manufacturing with natural ingredients and conservation of the environment. We established the Quality and Environmental Policy in October 2017 after combining our Quality Policy and Environmental Policy. This new policy represents the determination of Kagome's management team to achieve a sustainable society by focusing on environmental conservation with the same passion that Kagome has maintained in its manufacturing activities.

●Quality and Environmental Policy

Quality and Environmental Policy (established October 1, 2017)
  • 1.We contribute to the longevity and good health of people, which is important to us by providing the flavor and health value of vegetables.
  • 2.We grow safe agricultural raw materials consistently from seeds and fields by collaborating with our partners in Japan and abroad.
  • 3.We protect water, soil and air that nurture vegetables, maintain agriculture that fosters rich nature for the future, and effectively use the benefits acquired.
  • 4.We deliver safe, environmentally-friendly products by complying with laws, regulations and in-house standards and continuing to improve our systems and activities.
  • 5.We apply customers' feedback to our corporate activities while communicating the reliability of our products and services.

●Kagome Quality Management System

Kagome employs the Kagome Quality Management System (KQMS) during the processes of design and development, procurement, production, logistics, and sales in an effort to provide product safety and peace of mind.

Kagome Quality Management System

Ingredient Procurement from Good Fields

Good raw ingredients come from good fields. Kagome conducts quality management based on its belief that "fields are the primary production plant."
At Kagome, we also procure raw ingredients from overseas locations by leveraging the thinking and experience that we have acquired since our founding through contracted tomato cultivation in Japan.

Contract Farming of Domestically Grown Raw Ingredients

For raw ingredients that we obtain in Japan to be used in tomato juice, such as tomatoes, we sign a contract with suppliers on terms including quality standards prior to procurement. Contract farming is a procurement method that we have perfected over the past century. The vegetables we obtain from within Japan, including tomatoes, carrots, and petit vert, are mostly from contract farms.
Our contract farming is based on land area. Specifically, we request cultivation by deciding in advance the crop variety, land area for cultivation, shipping standards, and other elements. During cultivation, our employee in charge inspects each field directly, providing directions on appropriate cultivation methods. Finally, we purchase all harvested crops conforming to our standards. Contract farming allows us to obtain safe raw ingredients. Our supervision of contract farms leads to deeper communication and this relationship of trust leads to peace of mind. Our executive team also interacts with our contract farmers regularly, further deepening the relationship.

Safety Management from Farm to Final Product

We conduct a variety of inspections, analysis and research during the processes from farm to final product.

Initiatives for Food Defense

To prepare for intentional contamination of foodstuffs with foreign matter, in Japan Kagome conducts risk assessment and implements measures based on the results. In more concrete terms, aside from installing cameras and renewing the locking system in company plants, as well as increasing communication among factory employees, we work as one with our partner plants in establishing a system in line with Kagome's management guidelines.

Addressing Radioactive Materials

Immediately after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011, Kagome has been checking and carrying out safety inspections for radioactive materials in raw ingredients and products procured and produced in Japan, as well as in the water used at our plants.

Addressing Pesticide Residue

Kagome carries out inspections of pesticide residue in raw ingredients to ensure safe consumption. While we are working to further enhance the accuracy of our analysis, we obtained ISO 17025 certification, an international standard validating performance of testing and analysis.

Analysis of pesticide residue
Analysis of pesticide residue

Standards, Rules, and Action Guidelines on Production and Logistics

Kagome has formulated its own quality management system based on ISO 9001. We have been making company-wide efforts to improve quality management for processes from design and development to procurement, production, logistics, and sales. With regard to production, we have acquired the international certification for food safety, FSSC 22000, and implement the following quality management activities at all plants based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)* systems.

  • •Establishing sterile conditions on a scientific basis by analyzing microbial count in raw ingredients and manufacturing conditions at plants
  • •Assessing raw ingredients' hazards using new raw ingredients evaluations and analysis of items subject to monitoring
  • •Formulating standards for managing and inspecting production processes in the Manufacturing Standard Procedures
  • •Stipulating rules on protection from insects, workers' hygiene (including hand-washing and disinfection), and sanitation areas in the Hygiene Management Standard Procedures
  • •Recording control and inspection procedures for each production process in the QC chart

We established Action Guidelines for production sites in 2005 to ensure that our employees engage in production prioritizing quality in their daily activities.
*HACCP: A method of intensive hygiene control, that serves as the action guidelines for production sites, with which predictable biological, chemical, and physical hazard factors related to food safety during the production process, from arrival of food ingredients to production and shipment, are analyzed and important preventive management steps are put into place in accordance with the results of the analysis.

Action Guidelines for production sites
Action Guidelines for production sites


Copyright (C) KAGOME CO,. Ltd. All rights reserved.