Accreditations

The FSSC is a robust, internationally recognised certification scheme which ensures the safety and quality of food standards and processes and is applicable to all organisations in the food suply chain regardless of size and complexity . It is aligned with the ISO management approach and it is recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

Premier takes great pride in the fact that all of our wheat and maize mills are FSSC 22000 certified. Our bakeries, with the exception of the newly acquired George bakery which is currently undergoing certification, both confectionery sites as well as the CIM plant in Mozambique, which comprises a wheat mill, a maize mill, a pasta plant, a biscuit plant and an animal feeds plant, are FSSC 22000 certified. Most of Premier's suppliers are FSSC 22000 certified.

ISO 22000 and ISO 9001 are globally recognised standards for quality management. They are certifiable and allow organisations to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements.

Our central distribution depot based in Gauteng, Lords View, which provides warehousing and distribution services to our sites nationwide, is ISO 22000 certified. Lords View is the the largest green warehouse in South Africa and is largely powered by solar. Our Home and Personal Care site in Durban, manufacturing tampons and sanitary pads, and the Procurement, Research and Development and the Packaging departments at Head Office in Midrand are ISO 9001 certified. Certain of our private label customers conduct compliance audits on our sites to establish compliance with ISO 9001 in order to satisfy their internal compliance requirements.

The British Retail Consortium accreditation is essential for securing contracts with companies supplying food products to major UK supermarkets. The BRC compliancy is a stringent step-by-step analysis of each process identifying consumer product health hazards.

Our Home and Personal Care tampon manufacturing site in Durban is BRC certified enabling supply to the feminine hygiene market in the United Kingdom. In addition, the site has undergone several individual customer audits for large British retailers such as Sainsbury's.

HACCP is an internationally recognised food quality and safety management system through which food safety is monitored throughout the production and distribution process to ensure the safe consumption of the finished product.

In some circumstances where our smaller suppliers are not FSSC 22000 certified, audits will be conducted by a dedicated Food Safety Officer to ensure food safety protocols are in place. We assist smaller suppliers by providing funding and coaching to establish the internal compliance processes necessary to achieve the minimum required health and safety standards for the CPG industry, commencing with HACCP.

The National Independent Halaal Trust (NIHT) provides Halaal auditing and certification services to NIHT clients and members, as well as to other companies across the spectrum. The NIHT is dedicated to provide Muslim and non-Muslim consumers with legitimate and authentic certified products.

The majority of our wheat and maize mills are certified Halaal by the NIHT. Both our confectionery sites are certified Halaal.
Certified products produced at these sites display the Halaal certification on the product packaging.

Kosher certification is a process by which a food product is certified as being in compliance with Jewish dietary laws.

Several of our mills and our Cape Town bakery have been certified as producing Kosher products and products produced at these sites display the Kosher certification on the product packaging.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is a global, non-profit organisation focused on bringing together stakeholders from across the palm oil supply chain to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.

The Rainforest Alliance aims to drive more sustainable agricultural production and responsible supply chains, protecting farmers and workers and helping deliver value. It is the world's largest scale initiative to drive sustainable cocoa farming.

The responsible sourcing of our palm oil is secured from an RSPO certified supplier for the bakery and confectionery businesses and our cocoa is certified by the Rainforest Alliance as being responsibly sourced. Responsible sourcing protects against human rights abuses in our supply chain and promotes sustainable farming practices for those ingredients.

The HPC business is committed to using sustainable organic cotton sourced from Global Organic Textile Standard certified suppliers (GOTS) as well as providing a range of GOTS certified menstrual hygiene products.

Polyco PRO NPC is a non-profit company focused on making waste a valuable resource that works for the economy. It aims to grow the collection and recycling of all plastic packaging in South Africa and to promote the responsible use and reuse of plastic packaging and to end plastic waste in the environment.

Fibre Circle is a government-recognised producer responsibility organisation. It manages extended producer responsibility programmes to keep paper and paper packaging, which are renewable and recyclable products, out of South Africa’s landfills.

Premier is a signatory to both Polyco and Fibre Circle helping to create a clean and dignified living and working environment for all South Africans and contributing towards a plastic free environment.

In 2023, Premier received a certification from Standard Bank as a Top Gender Empowered Company in the Food Producer sector. Premier actively creates initiatives to sustainably uplift women and organisations to make a contribution to gender empowerment.

No animal testing is carried out or commissioned during the manufacture or development of our food or Lil-lets products.

The fundamental objective of the B-BBEE Act is to advance economic transformation and enhance the economic participation of black people in the South African economy. The B-BBEE codes of good practice have been refined to focus more on productive B-BBEE and the growth of black entrepreneurs through Enterprise and Supplier Development elements.

Premier achieved a Level 4 B-BBEE contribution status in 2023.