Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) was recently honored by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) for its commitment to food allergy safety, awareness and education.
“We commend Campbell Soup Company for recognizing the needs of individuals with food allergies by establishing safety measures for ingredient labeling of its products”
At its Annual Patient Conference in Baltimore, Md., FAAN recognized Campbell with a Special Achievement Award for introducing a new and innovative scanning technology in its plants to improve allergen labeling on its products. Campbell helped develop the strategy for a Vision System to scan product manufacturing codes and ensure that they match UPC codes on the product labels.
In 2004, Campbell introduced the Vision System in its Sacramento plant as part of the company's industry-leading Plant Allergen Control program to help reduce food products being mislabeled. For the past two years, Campbell has had zero cans mislabeled due to the system's operation. Today, all Campbell's North America plants use the Vision System that reads the can code and label code and ensures that the right label always gets on the right can. Campbell plans to extend the system in Australia, Asia-Pacific and Europe.
"We commend Campbell Soup Company for recognizing the needs of individuals with food allergies by establishing safety measures for ingredient labeling of its products," said Julia Bradsher, CEO of FAAN. "We hope that other food manufacturers can follow its lead, as ingredient labels present a challenge for so many."
Campbell partnered with Tactical Controls, who developed the software and hardware that is the heart of the Vision System, to pioneer this innovative technology, which is now in use throughout the food industry.
"Food safety is our top priority and was the driving force behind Campbell creating the concept for the Vision System," said George Dunaif, Vice President, Global Food Safety. "Campbell was the first company to install the hardware and software for our North American soup and sauce lines. Since we've implemented the system, we have virtually eliminated mislabeling at all of our plants in North America."
Campbell Helps People Become More Allergy Aware
The award also recognized Campbell's ongoing commitment to help educate people about food allergens through its Allergy Awareness Campaign. Launched in 2007, the program focused on educating representatives from Campbell's Consumer Response Center about food allergies and how to help people who contacted the company to learn about allergens.
"Our programs raised awareness of allergens by having employees live the life of a person with food allergies in a simulation," said Susan Baranowsky, Director of Campbell's Consumer Affairs. "These programs helped educate our Consumer Response Center representatives about the challenges people face when choosing foods that are safe to include in their diets and helped them to empathize with people."
Representatives direct interested consumers to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network with a free, six-month trial membership, helping to boost support for the organization, which educates people about living with food allergies. Campbell also has an Allergen Labeling Code of Commitment on http://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/AllergenLabelingCommitment.asp.
Campbell's programs have been so impactful that the company has made them part of its standard practice and has steadily increased education efforts for representatives and consumers. Campbell plans to continue to build on the success of these programs with new labeling and awareness efforts in the future.
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