Background
Established in Swansea in 1922, the family run Joe’s Ice Cream has been making their award-winning products for over a hundred years.
Joe’s ice cream is available to buy in supermarkets across Wales as well as directly from their five parlours, which can be found in Swansea, Cardiff and Llanelli.
Whilst Joe’s produces ice cream in over 20 different flavours, they’re most well known for their Fresh Vanilla ice cream, which is sold exclusively at their parlours.
Having held SALSA food safety certification for a number of years, Joe’s recruited a technical affiliate through the Project HELIX Knowledge Transfer Programme to help them maintain their certification following the Iaunch of SALSA Issue 6.
The Project HELIX Knowledge Transfer Programme employs part-funded technical or sales and marketing affiliates and embeds them within Welsh food and drink manufacturers with full support from the ZERO2FIVE team.
Support from ZERO2FIVE
A ZERO2FIVE technologist mentored the technical affiliate to help Joe’s develop and implement a food safety management system which met the requirements of SALSA Issue 6. This support focused on key changes to the standard, including introducing a ‘food safety culture’ into the business and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).
The technical affiliate was also mentored by ZERO2FIVE to support development of a new healthier ice cream product within the range for Joe’s. This mentoring covered recipe development, calculated nutrition information, health claims, factory trials and shelf-life testing.
Following the completion of the technical affiliate’s time within the company, Joe’s received direct support from the ZERO2FIVE technologist. As part of this support, ZERO2FIVE undertook a detailed Gap analysis of the company’s food safety systems, and mentored the production manager to ensure their food safety systems were ready for their SALSA Issue 6 audit.
Benefits of the support
Joe’s received their SALSA Issue 6 audit in November 2023 and passed with just three non-conformances. Further support from ZERO2FIVE has helped the company to close out the non-conformances and Joe’s have been able to successfully maintain their SALSA certification, a key requirement for the company to be able to supply their products to major retailers. As a result, Joe’s have been able to safeguard 81 part-time and 45 full time jobs within the company.
Following the development of their new healthier ice cream product range, Joe’s hope to launch it during 2024.
Lucy Hughes, Director, Joe’s Ice Cream:
“We would recommend partnering with ZERO2FIVE, particularly for their deep knowledge in food safety, quality management and regulatory compliance. Successfully maintaining SALSA certification has expanded our market reach and enhanced our supplier credibility.
“We found the team at ZERO2FIVE to be very responsive and approachable and we built a strong professional relationship with them over the course of the project. Their unbiased approach has built our trust and confidence in their services, and we would not hesitate to consult with ZERO2FIVE again for other projects.”
