QUALITY MANAGEMENT
AIMING TO CREATE SAFE
AND RELIABLE PRODUCTS
As a company dealing with food, ITO EN positions quality control as an important matter for its corporate survival. We have established a rigorous quality control system to ensure product safety from the product design stage to the consideration of raw ingredients, materials and packaging, and to the manufacturing and distribution stages.
BECAUSE WE DRINK TEA EVERY DAY
QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM
ITO EN does not use tea leaves of unknown provenance. ITO EN works with tea farmers to ensure we understand their growing methods. It can do this because ITO EN is all about tea.
Further, with Oi Ocha, ITO EN has established a mechanism for understanding everything about the finished product and the manufacturing plants, from the production date to the raw materials used and how the tea leaves were cultivated.
This tracking of production history is called traceability.
Oi Ocha is produced under an end-to-end management process that is tested daily by quality managers using the latest equipment, as well as through the sensory testing of qualities such as flavor and aroma that cannot be determined by machine.
QUALITY IS SUPPORTED BY A UNIQUE
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL MODEL
By perfecting high quality raw materials in collaboration with producers and strengthening relationships based on coexistence and co-prosperity, ITO EN aims to contribute to the stable procurement of high-quality raw materials and the development of sustainable agriculture in Japan.
THE TEA-PRODUCING REGION DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
As a company deeply involved in agriculture, ITO EN launched the Tea-Producing Region Development Project in 1976 to achieve both the stable procurement of safe, secure and high-quality green tea raw materials and solutions to the issues facing Japanese agriculture. This project consists of two different initiatives: cultivation under contract, whereby we purchase all of the tea leaves produced by contracted local tea farmers, and the new tea farms business, which involves the creation of large tea farms on previously abandoned farmland.
SUPPORT PROVIDED IN THE TEA-PRODUCING
REGION DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (IN JAPAN) AND ITS RESULTS
In the new tea farms business, members of our Agricultural Technology Department have been involved in providing technical guidance, going to tea farms and factories in each tea producing region and providing agricultural production corporations and tea farmers with technology and expertise regarding tea production and cultivation techniques. One hundred percent of the tea leaves produced in the Tea-Producing Region Development Project are used in products,* in principle, and this is an important project for ITO EN's procurement of raw materials.
*Oi Ocha brand tea drinks, etc.
Tea products such as Oi Ocha Green Tea Tea Bags, Oi Ocha Premium Tea Bags Green Tea with Uji Matcha, One Pot Green Tea with Matcha Tea Bags, etc.
TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT TO REDUCE
THE USE OF AGROCHEMICALS AND FOR ORGANIC FARMING
Anticipating that demand will continue to increase in overseas markets, we are developing technologies to reduce the use of agrochemicals and for organization farming. We have started using the nitrogen components contained in used tea leaves in place of the nitrogen fertilizers that have been necessary for growing tea leaves. The used tea leaves generated by outsourced manufacturing plants during the manufacturing of beverage products are composted for use in the contracted production areas, thereby facilitating recycling-oriented farming.
We will also use an agrochemical-free, steam-operated machines to control pests and eliminate weeds. In this way, we contribute to environmentally friendly tea farming and the expansion of Japanese tea exports.
ENSURING SAFETY AND SECURITY DURING THE MANUFACTURING OF PRODUCTS
The ITO EN Group has established polices regarding procurement and quality management, and is working in collaboration with its stakeholders (including outsourced beverage producers) to establish a supply framework to ensure due care and consideration for both the environmental and social aspects of ITO EN's activities.
Our procurement policy sets guidelines for the pursuit of quality, safety and peace of mind, fairness in procurement and the consideration of human rights, labor and the environment. Our quality management policy dictates rules for the provision of safe and reliable products, compliance with applicable laws and ordinances and ensuring the safety of products utilizing international standards. On the quality management front, the Group has built an ISO 9001 certified quality management system (obtained in 2002), with our Shizuoka Sagara Factory* obtaining FSSC 22000 certification in November 2013.
*No. RO19-FSSC 22000: Green tea firing and small-size packaging, barley teabag packaging, instant green tea, barley tea and powdered seaweed tea, powder processed food small-size packaging, coffee roasting and packaging, and matcha grinding and packaging.
Our products are only manufactured in factories that satisfy ITO EN quality management standards, and we thoroughly ensure safety and security in the manufacturing of our products by holding regular quality assurance meetings.
