My Ten Year Trip by Gaven Meiners (Consumer Products Sales) It is hard to believe that I have been a full time Crest employee for 10 years already; it’s even harder to believe that I have been collecting a Crest Foods
paycheck for a period of 17 years, which means I have been working at Crest just over half of my life! Being in sales, I get the opportunity to brag about some of the cool things Crest has to offer our employees, selling who we are not just what we can do. The 10 year trip benefit is one that always catches people off guard, “I wish I got a 10 year trip, I want to work at Crest” are often the type of responses I get. After talking about it all these years it be- came time for me to cash in and get to experience a trip on Crest myself! For my 10 year trip, my wife Tracy AND cousin Erika headed to Exuma, which is an island located in the Bahamas. We were greeted by teal water, white sandy beaches, and perfect sunny weather! While being a beach bum was on the agenda for the week, we rented a car so that we could go exploring. Driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car took some getting used to, but I got us around safely, even after turning the windshield wip- ers on instead of the turn signal, almost every time we turned. Some of the highlights from our adventures were seeing the Tropic of Cancer beach, walking the sand flats at low tide, swimming with Island Pigs, swimming with sharks (the kind that do not bite), feeding iguanas (the kind that scratch when you pick them up), feeding sting rays (the kind that bite when your wife tells you to stop holding on to them), snorkeling the Thunderball Grotto, and indulging on fresh fish/lobster all week. A big Thank You to Crest Foods for recognizing my 10 year achievement through this program. I am very humbled and proud to have decided to be a part of Crest Foods and look forward to hearing about all the 10 year trips to come! the safest products possible while adhering to established food safety protocols. This is somewhat of a recent phe nomenon as we used to not only prepare for audits, but also only experience a handful each year. My how things change! With the implementation of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the bar has been raised for food safety compliance. For Crest Foods, this means another day, another audit! We take great pride in the fact that our facilities are always audit ready due to a complex food safety management system utilized throughout our com- pany. While somewhat of a time consuming process to facilitate, these audits serve as testament to our food safety pro- grams being established and effectively followed. Our annual Safe Quality Foods (SQF) re-certification audit is no exception. Conducted back in March of this year, all three divisions of Crest Foods were audited against Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards to ensure our proper compliance with safe food manufacturing processes. Out of all the audits conducted within our facilities each year, this audit is one of the most crucial as our final rating is reviewed and scrutinized by all customers. All three divisions performed exceptionally well and we were able to maintain our high ratings our customers are accustomed to seeing from Crest Foods. Hats off to all of our hourly and management employees who make these audits easy by simply following our food safety protocols and having pride and ownership with their assigned responsibilities! Audits by Brandon Meiners, Ingredient Division QA It seems like anymore, food safety audits of our facilities are just as common as the mail being delivered! Whether it’s a customer, regulatory, or even an internal employee, there is always some- one in our facility verifying that Crest Foods is manufacturing
July, August & September 2019 Crest Ink 5
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