American Institute of Baking buys Chinese certification body

Related tags Food safety

The American Institute of Baking has entered into an agreement to acquire Beijing Sino-Swiss ADC, an officially approved certification body in Beijing, China.

AIB officially purchased 51% of the company in December, and will own 100% of the company once the final transaction is complete in December 2017.

“SSADC will enable AIB to extend our full portfolio of food safety services, including training, helping clients improve their GMP practices in their facilities, and GFSI audits to our multinational and exporting clients”, said Andre Biane, chief executive of AIB.

The acquisition of SSADC will provide a platform for AIB to operate as a certification body in a new region. “China is a key market for AIB. The joint venture with a Chinese-licenced food safety organisation made the most business sense,” Biane said.

SSADC is in compliance with EN 45011/ISO Guide 65, which is officially approved by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China. It specialises in IFS, GlobalGAP and ChinaGAP certification audits and currently covers more than 20 provinces in the country.

Through SSADC, AIB expects to expand the certification audits to include SQF, ISO 22000, and BRC licensing. Both AIB and SSADC have been closely monitoring the benchmarking process of China HACCP as a potential new food safety scheme.

“Our two organisations have very common interests in helping to elevate the food safety capabilities of food and beverage manufacturers and exporters in China”, added Biane.

AIB plans to operate SSADC as a standalone business in China until the acquisition is completed in 2017.

Senior members of SSADC’s management team, as well as local auditors and managerial staff, will work in collaboration with AIB’s existing China-based team. AIB will continue to provide its GMP inspection through its current AIB China operations, not through SSADC.