Food Safety

We Teach and Preach Food Safety

This is the culture at DFS from purchasing our ingredients only from reputable suppliers through shipping only on safe and clean carriers. Our Quality Assurance Team leads the way to producing safe food, but everyone in the company is responsible for food safety and food quality. We teach and preach food safety as an uncompromising fundamental pillar to our success.

Our food safety programs are recognized by industry leaders in food safety as having met or exceeded industry standards. We are proudly certified GFSI/BRC compliant and recognized by Silliker Laboratories, AIB International, and the Department of Defense as having met their standards. Our team maintains their certification and education current with today’s ever changing food safety regulations.

All our products are produced under a HACCP plan and food security plan. Our Madisonville and Nebraska City Facilities are USDA-FSIS inspected, and as such, our HACCP plans meet the expectations of this agency’s rigorous scrutiny. Our plans have also met the expectations of FDA, DOD, and state health departments in all three facilities.

Foreign material is a food safety issue that we take great care to eliminate. Possible sources are controlled through sanitation, cleaning practices, and proper ingredient handling/protection. Verification is performed by functional electronic metal detectors and rare earth magnets.

We are proudly certified GFSI/BRC compliant and recognized by Silliker Laboratories, AIB International, and the Department of Defense as having met their standards.

Well Developed and Implemented Sanitation Program

Our cooking facilities produce fully cooked, thermally processed heat and serve products. The risks of contamination by environmental Listeria species is controlled through a well developed and implemented sanitation program. We trust, but verify our third party sanitation company’s performance every day. All equipment is inspected visually and through ATP swabbing for cleanliness before the start of the production day. In addition, weekly swabbing of the production area for Listeria species is performed to assure this organism is eliminated as a possible source of environmental contamination. To assure our programs and efforts are functional, every product produced is verified through microbiological analysis to be free of Salmonella species, E.coli, and Staphyloccus pathogens, which are the industry standards of pathogen indication. We also include Listeria species testing on key products as part of a verification program.

Our flour and spice facilities also produce under HACCP programs, scrutinized by AIB International, FDA, and local Health and Safety authorities. Pre-op inspections are also performed visually and with ATP swabs. All products are analyzed for microbiological aerobic plate count, E.coli and Salmonella for verification of food safety. These products are not treated to reduce or eliminate biological hazards, so suppliers and their ingredients are carefully chosen to control the these hazards in our products.

Food Security & Safety Programs

Our food security program is written and verified effective as part of our food safety program. All vulnerabilities have been assessed and mitigated.

Recording cameras are strategically located in all our facilities to reduce the likelihood of a planned act to render our product unsafe for consumption, but also to provide documentation for any investigations that may ensue as the result of a noncompliance issue. Our employees are well trained to question unauthorized persons around the facility, and how to address them.