8 more companies gain ISO certification

Eight more companies have been awarded the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certificates for the international standard management system.

The organisations that gained ISO certification upon training by the SME Foundation are Safe Trading Corporation, Protibha Trading, Ovijat Food and Beverage Industries, Masuda Agro Processing Food Products, Banee's Creation, Ayurvedia Pharmacy (Dhaka) Ltd, Chhip Food Bd, and Allwells Marketing Ltd.

SME Foundation Chairperson Professor Md Masudur Rahman handed over the certificates to representatives of the organisations at Parjatan Bhaban in the capital on Monday.

Food Safety Management System (FSMS)-ISO 22000 are some global standards developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) to assure consumers of the quality of products and services internationally and in the country. Businesses increase their brand value as soon as they get ISO certification.

Mustofa Kamal, founder of Safe Trading Corporation which received ISO certification, told The Business Standard, "The SME Foundation trained our workers on how we should maintain hygiene in making food products, and how to pack them. This training made it easier for us to understand what we needed to do and to gain ISO certification."

Sayed Muhammad Shoaib Hasan, owner of Hifs Agro Food Industries, which got ISO certificate in 2013, said "Prior to our ISO certification, we annually sold products worth $6,000 and now we are exporting to 118 countries. Last year, we exported products worth $3.2 million."

A total of 21 small and medium-sized enterprises have received this certificate from the Switzerland-based standard organisation with the support of the SME Foundation.

In this regard, SME Foundation Managing Director Md Mofizur Rahman told The Business Standard, "We provide training to organisations in applying good manufacturing practices. We provide all the training as per ISO standards to prevent health risks in the process, starting from food production and ending at its consumption."

In 2013, three Bangladesh companies – Hifs Agro Food Industries, Marks Ice-cream Factory and Nur Foods Limited – got ISO certificates.  In 2015, four more companies -- Well Food Limited, Arku Foods, Eco Technologies Limited, and Greentech Agro Limited – were also certified. Then, Century Farms Limited, FM Plastic Industries Limited, Ahmed Food Products Private Limited, Inada Incorporation, KPC Industry Limited, and Raj Kamal Everbest Corporation, got ISO certificate in 2017.

The Switzerland-based International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) itself does not issue any certificate. The certification bodies of different countries provide ISO certificates by monitoring companies according to the standards of the organisation. BSTI, Bangladesh's only government regulatory body, is currently issuing ISO certificates here.