LYON, France, November 29, 2011: Rhodia Aroma Performance’s production site in Saint-Fons, France and its sister site at Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the U.S.A., where they manufacture the company’s flagship vanillin and ethyl-vanillin brands Rhovanil® and Rhodiarome®, have been awarded the prestigious Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000.

“A year ago, together with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and involving the entire organisation we set a goal to better serve our customers and took the necessary and structured steps to ensure that our manufacturing processes at our plants in both France and the USA complied with the most stringent and internationally recognised FSSC criteria,” explains Vincent Lajotte, Aroma Ingredients Business Director of Rhodia Aroma Performance.

“Attaining FSSC 22000 certification, requested by many of our largest food customers worldwide, is an outstanding achievement which has involved all stakeholders including R&D, our suppliers, storage and transport facilities and of course the total commitment and united teamwork from both management and all employees at our manufacturing facilities,” adds Vincent Lajotte.

Both of Rhodia’s manufacturing plants are already certified under ISO 9001 and complied with the requirements of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and the American Institute of Baking; in addition, the Baton Rouge plant meets the requirements of NFPA-GMA SAFE.

Carol Lazzarelli, technical manager for the food and beverage industry at DNV Business Assurance, a leading certification body with broad expertise in food ingredient safety today presented Rhodia with the FSSC 22000 certificate at their booth (Hall 4 K48) here at the Food Ingredients Europe (Fi E) 2011 exhibition.

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"Rhodia Aroma Performance's approach is still a pioneering one in the field of food ingredients. The company demonstrates exemplary involvement in food safety, and has made significant research efforts and investments in order to ensure both public health and the wholesomeness of its products. In fact, the high degree of purity of its products is a guarantee for customers. Food safety is at the core of the company's business strategy which, supported by sound management, provides a significant competitive edge," says Carol Lazzarelli.

Lajotte goes on to say: “Rhodia’s 120-year experience in manufacturing vanillin, developing, understanding and maintaining stable and carefully documented production processes was a major and influential contribution to gaining FSSC 22000 accreditation.”

“Through quality-oriented process design, back integration and end-to-end traceability implies that safety is built into every step of our manufacturing chain. Also, by avoiding the usage of unauthorized products such as toluene and the lowest level of liquid effluents Rhodia ensures a very high consistency in purity making our brands the purest, safest and most sustainable in the world,” concluded Lajotte.

The FSSC (Food Safety System Certification) 22000 certification scheme was benchmarked as best-in-class by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and helps secure food safety standards within the production process of the supply chain. The scheme is managed by the Foundation for Food Safety Certification located in the Netherlands and specifically targets the food manufacturing sector and is based on the internationally recognised standard ISO 22000 and the PAS 220.

The Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 220 (now upgraded as ISO/TS 22002-1:2010) is a distinctive element of this particular certification scheme developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) to specify requirements for prerequisite programs to assist in controlling food safety standards within the manufacturing processes of the food supply chain. The PAS 220 scheme was sponsored by major food companies and the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the European Union (CIAA).

Rhodia vanillin and ethyl-vanillin flagship brands Rhovanil^® and Rhodiarome^® are used in bakery, chocolate, confectionery, beverages and other dairy product applications and are manufactured to the highest food safety standards at its facilities in Saint-Fons, France and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the USA thereby ensuring customers a security of supply worldwide.

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®	Rhovanil and Rhodiarome are registered trademarks of Rhodia.

Rhodia Aroma Performance is the only vanillin and ethyl-vanillin producer mastering the whole manufacturing chain in its FSSC 22000 certified facilities, Saint Fons (France) & Baton Rouge (USA), from Catechol to Rhovanil® or Rhodiarome® its flagship brands. Rhodia guarantees:
- Compliance with the most stringent food standards and regulations
- Eco-friendly process, with no chlorinated derivatives (ex-ONCB process), no toluene, no methanol.
- Full traceability all along the manufacturing chain.

Rhovanil® & Rhodiarome® are the food safety market reference for more than 30 years, thanks to the back integrated manufacturing chain which prevent them from any cross contamination risks.

Rhodia, member of the Solvay group, is a specialty chemical company resolutely committed to sustainable development. As a leader in its businesses, the Group aims to improve its customers’ performance through the pursuit of operational excellence and its ability to innovate. Structured around 11 Global Business Units, Rhodia is the partner of major players in the automotive, electronics, flavors and fragrances, health, personal and home care markets, consumer goods and industrial markets. Rhodia employs around 14,000 people worldwide and generated sales of €5.23 billion in 2010.

For more information, please visit our website: www.rhodia.com

DNV Business Assurance is a world leading certification body. We work with our customers to assure the performance of their products, processes and organizations through certification, assessment and training services.

Within the food and beverage industry, we help our customers worldwide to achieve excellence within food safety and quality, environmental management, supply chain management and product sustainability. Being part of DNV, a global provider of services for managing risk, we belong to a network of 9,000 employees within 300 offices in 100 countries.

Contacts

Rhodia Aroma Performance
Maud Joassard
Tel: + 33 4 26 19 71 38
E-mail: maud.joassard@eu.rhodia.com

Consultant Industrial Media Relations
Alan Flower
Tel: +32 474 117091
E-mail: alan.flower@indmr.com