Focus on Russia

This new site will supply its customers with innovative and high-quality palatability enhancers of the same standard as the other 15 production facilities already established across the world, points out the company.

Diana Pet Food division expects that the industrial site in Shebekino in Russia will bring it closer to its eastern European customers and establish a strong foothold in the fast-growing Russian pet food market. This market is among the ten fastest growing markets in the world, with 7 per cent annual growth.
“Our presence in Russia aligns perfectly with our strategy to support our customers’ growth with our international development. The expansion exemplifies our motto ‘the closer the better’. We have completed the construction of the factory and will start supplying our customers in the second quarter of 2014. Ultimately, 15 to 20 people will work on the site” indicates Jean-François Laudouze, director of SPF Russia.
The strategy of Diana Pet Food Division has always been to set up manufacturing facilities close to both markets and raw materials, points out the company. This was historically the first proactive way to guarantee performance and responsiveness to customers and limit the food safety risk by providing pet food manufacturers with local products delivered quickly through a short supply chain. The choice of the new plant location proves no different. As the main hog and poultry breeding region, the Belgorod area offers many opportunities and benefits for the Diana Pet Food division.

SPF Russia, like all the other Diana Pet Food Division production sites worldwide, will implement a “Programme of Excellence in Palatant Safety”. This programme covers the safety of palatants during their whole life, from conception to consumption, and is based on four pillars:
Best practices application; Risk management; Continuous improvement; Communication through the pet food supply chain.
Within this programme, SPF Russia will follow several basic operating procedures aiming to prevent hazard introduction. It notably includes a risk analysis applied to each product or process development and conducted using hazard identification and risk assessment tools (HACCP), a preventive…