Official food safety certification sets brewery in good stead
A Yorkshire Wolds brewery has retained a food safety assurance certification following an audit of the business premises.
It means that Wold Newton based Wold Top Brewery continues to be certified withSafe and Local Supplier Approval (SALSA), having first gained the accreditation in 2011.
The SALSA standards are written by food safety experts and incorporate the legal requirements that producers must meet and best practice for professional food buyers.
In order to gain SALSA, the brewery was required to demonstrate its ability to produce safe and legal food and to continually comply to SALSA standards.
The accreditation has helped the business improve its standards and operational expectations, Office Manager Jason Lukehurst said.
"We're very pleased to have passed the audit. Having Salsa's independent industry expert officially accredit ourquality and consistency throughout the production and bottling process gives our customers confidence that our beer is consistently good.
"We have been awarded the accreditation for six consecutive years and it has helped us to regulate our own quality control procedures, and to have a better understanding of what we should be looking for from present and future suppliers.
"It has also given us an entry into some of the larger national retailers, who accept it as a quality and compliance measure, which is hugely important for our business."
Wold Top Brewery was founded by Tom and Gill Mellor as a farm diversification project in 2003. Tom and Gill's daughter, Kate and husband, Alex Balchin also run a contract bottling business, Agricola Bottling, on the same site.
Agricola Bottling was established in 2007, and bottles beers for a number of other craft breweries.
Jason added: "SALSA also helps with our specialist bottling plant as it means that other breweries can say their beer is packaged by an approved supplier."
SALSA was launched in 2007 as an accreditation scheme designed for small food and drink business.
Operating from a base in North Oxfordshire, more than 60 local Salsa auditors and mentors work with members throughout the UK to implement best practice and controls and to provide practical guidance.
Ends
Photo:Jason Lukehurst with the Salsa certificate Wold Top Brewery's Jason Lukehurst
For more information or to arrange an interview with Jason Lukehurst or Kate Balchin, please contact Tracey Baty at three60 marketing on:
Direct line: 01430 871360
Mobile: 07971 961574
E mail:traceybaty@three60marketing.co.uk
Web:www.three60marketing.co.uk
Notes to editors
For more information about Wold Top Brewery, please visitwww.woldtopbrewery.co.uk.Wold Top Brewery is also onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram,and you can keep up to date with the brewery's latest newshere.
Wold Top Brewery was born in 2003 when the Mellor family diversified from farming into beer brewing using the malting barley they produce and the farm's own supply of water.
Twenty-one varieties of beer make up Wold Top Brewery's award-winning range including Wold Top Beer, Headland Red, Anglers Reward and Wold Top Against the Grain gluten-free beer. More information on the range of bottled beers can be found atwww.woldtopbrewery.co.uk/beers.
Hunmanby Grange is also home toAgricola Bottling Ltdand a wedding and events business,Muddy Souls Events, both also run by the Mellor family.
For further information about SALSA, please visitwww.salsafood.co.uk.