Food Safety - Darden Restaurants

Plate – Food Quality & Safety
Key Accomplishments
• Darden’s industry-leading food safety and total
quality program continued to ensure that all 400
million meals served annually met our stringent
food safety and quality standards.
Our Approach
There is no single issue more important to Darden
than food safety. We serve more than 1 million meals
each day made up of 2,000+ different ingredients and
we are committed to ensuring every one of those
ingredients meets our stringent food safety and
quality standards. We have an international team of
more than 50 biologists, food scientists and public
health professionals dedicated to implementing and
continually improving our industry-leading food
safety/total quality program.
In Darden’s view, the best way to ensure the safety of
the food we purchase is to go directly to the source
as well as to multiple points across the supply chain.
Our objective is to have traceability from “pond to
plate” or from “farm to fork.” We use a risk-based,
Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP)
approach which provides the highest level of security
across all levels of the supply chain. We employ 20
field plant inspectors in the United States and 8 other
countries who inspect food plants, processes and
products to verify they meet our standards before
they are shipped. We also have 18 total quality
managers in the field who, as registered sanitarians,
review and certify in-restaurant food processes to
ensure the integrity of the system all the way through
to when the meal is delivered to the guest.
Animal welfare is another key food-related priority
for Darden. As a purchaser of beef, poultry and pork,
we believe ensuring the welfare of the animals in
our supply chain is an ethical imperative guided by
science. Darden has developed a set of Food Animal
Welfare Principles and Policies and we have an Animal
Welfare Working Group (AWWG) made up of Darden
• Darden is pleased to have participated with industry
regulators in developing a harmonized, Third Party
Food Safety audit process for locally-sourced fresh
produce, an expanding menu item, particularly at
Darden’s Seasons 52 and Capital Grille restaurants.
representatives and external experts to continually
monitor animal welfare issues and ensure we apply
the standards within our supply chain. Our suppliers
are required to certify their animal welfare practices
and conduct third-party audits of their practices, and
we conduct on-site assessments.
While we are confident of our industry-leading
food safety and animal welfare programs, we also
view both as processes of continual improvement.
We are committed to engage with a wide range of
stakeholders to advance our own knowledge and
practices, as well as the science more broadly.
...we are committed
to ensuring every one
of those ingredients
meets our stringent
food safety and
quality standards.
50
2012 Darden Sustainability Report

Key Initiatives
New Technology: Darden is converting our food
traceability data system to a fully automated one,
using the GS1 barcode system. GS1 barcodes have
been used on packaged goods for decades, but
have only recently begun being used for fresh food
products. The conversion is expected to be complete
by 2015. The new technology will make the data we
track more real-time and accessible, ensuring that we
quickly locate and remove from the Darden supply
chain any product that does not meet our standards
for wholesomeness. The automated system will also
enable us, over time, to expand the amount and type
of data we track. For example, we are exploring how to
incorporate nutritional data into the system.
Darden is transitioning our entire supplier base to
Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Third Party Audits.
While we have long conducted food safety audits
of our suppliers utilizing Darden TQ personnel and
third-party auditors, our objective is to harmonize
the process, ensuring that we are applying the same,
internationally recognized food safety standards
across our global supply chain. This action will better
ensure that our supplier base is in full compliance
with the new food safety regulations under the Food
Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The new FSMA
importer accountability provisions require importers
to implement a foreign supplier verification
program and GFSI is well recognized and respected
for providing the necessary assurance regarding the
safety of globally traded food.
While Darden’s centralized, contracted, fresh produce
sourcing goes through a very rigorous preventive and
verification process, locally sourced items will involve
utilizing Darden’s internal team to assess regional
suppliers’ best food safety practices and rely on the
newly harmonized third-party Fresh Produce Safety
audit as a verification step.
Plate – Food Quality & Safety
Food Safety
Food Safety
Farm Plant Distribution Restaurant
50 biologists,
food scientists
and public health
professionals
implementing and
improving our
industry-leading
food safety program
20 field plant
inspectors who
inspect food, plants,
processes and
products to verify
they meet our
standards
18 field total
quality managers
who review and
certify in-restaurant
food processes to
ensure the integrity
of the system
2012 Darden Sustainability Report
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