Responsibility to Our Customers
[Basic Policy]
We aim to realize comfort beyond problem-solving based on our scientific knowledge. We will logically unravel the relations of body health, comfort of body and soul as well as sensitivity from the force of nature, and create technologies, products, and services that allow people to “feel” the color of their lives. All of these are permeated with DIC’s biotechnologies enabling independent development and attitude pursuing “certainness” based on evidence.
In accordance with the DIC Group’s Sustainability Policy and Action Plan, as well as the Sustainability Action Plan of the DIC Color Materials Products Division, we will comply with the following themes: “Safety, Environment and Health”, “Quality”, “New Value Creation”, “Development of Sustainability Product Technologies and Products”, “Risk Management”, “Coexistence with Society and Social Contribution”, and “Human Resource Management”.
In accordance with the DIC Group’s Sustainability Policy and Action Plan, as well as the Sustainability Action Plan of the DIC Color Materials Products Division, we will comply with the following themes: “Safety, Environment and Health”, “Quality”, “New Value Creation”, “Development of Sustainability Product Technologies and Products”, “Risk Management”, “Coexistence with Society and Social Contribution”, and “Human Resource Management”.
◆ Access to Better Nutrition
(Mission)Contribute to the creation of a prosperous society through the health of the soul and the body.
Aim to create a society with a fulfilling quality of life (QOL) in the era of 100-year lifespans, and support the safe, secured, colorful, and comfortable life of everyone.
(Future Vision)
Create materials and products friendly to both people and the earth.
Develop well-being business continues to create new value by pursuing new material and technologies that are not only beneficial to humans but load less of a burden on the earth.
(Value Proposition)
Realize comfortable lifestyles through reliable products and services.
◆ Goals
In 2022, we have developed our long-term management plan, DIC Vision 2030. We have designated the healthcare field as one of our priority business areas and have set the following goals.(1) Realize the health of a wide range of generations through high-performance nutrition materials,
(2) Realize a future where people can feel the improvement of QOL by providing safety, security, color and comfort through healthcare material and services.
◆ Responsible Advertisement and Marketing
We conduct honest and responsible advertisement and marketing activities in accordance with the DIC Group’s Corporate Philosophy, Sustainability Policy and Action Plan, and the Sustainability Action Plan of the DIC Color Materials Products Division. We will build relationships of trust with our stakeholders through advertisement and marketing activities, and appropriately reflect the voices of society in our business activities.(Advertisement)
We strive to run an appropriate advertisement and promotion in order to disseminate an appropriate brand image and product information to the stakeholders. We comply with relevant laws and regulations, ensure that the content and expressions are easy to understand that do not cause misunderstandings or misunderstandings, give enough consideration to slander, discriminatory expressions, religious and political beliefs and environment, privacy, personal information, intellectual property rights, etc. Besides we approach responsible information dissemination through the establishment of multifaceted prescreening system by an external third-party organization and multiple internal departments on that, the establishment of continuous monitoring system based on the latest laws and regulations, and internal training.
(Marketing)
We engage in fair and responsible marketing activities by complying with rules and regulations and voluntary industry standards, not infringing the credibility, the reputation and/or the rights of others, and ensuring the content and expressions prepared in easy-to-understand manner that do not cause misunderstandings.
◆ Quality Control
DIC Group consider its “Safety, Environment and Health Policy” and “Quality Policy” as the foundation of its business based on “The DIC Way” and “Basic Policy on Sustainability” and pursue providing the products and services that meets the needs of its customers and society. In addition, we give primary consideration to “the importance of the dietary lifestyle”, explore the function of valuable food ingredients, and contribute to the development of people’s health and prosperous life.[System]
While we engage in an integrated production from cultivation to finished products, we conduct safety tests at public institutions on a regular basis and accumulate a rich store of data from the perspective of “providing products that customers can take the products with peace of mind”. Besides the employees of DIC group companies take charges of production management with responsibilities, and we conduct strict quality specification inspection as well as receiving quality inspection within DIC group.
◆ Quality Control System
DIC Group in Japan is engaged in realizing, maintaining and improving of the food safety and the assured quality in all processes from product planning to design and development, raw material procurement, production storage and sales in order to continue providing high quality products that our customer could take with peace of mind while considering product lifecycle.We will expand the production facilities to meet the increase in production, replace the obsolete facilities, manage the change to maintain the conformity to the customer requirement in the event of product renewal and/or rationalization for cost competitiveness improvement, prevent the release of nonconformance product related to those changes concerned, and strive for the reduction of customer complaint and claim.
Quality Assurance Department, Quality Control Department, and Quality Assurance Group are engaged in their work with pride and responsibility as “Guardian of Quality” to provide customers with food safety and security.
◆ Monitoring
DIC group practice the management in accordance with the international quality management systems (FSSC22000, ISO22000, ISO9000, HACCP, cGMP, etc.) from the perspective of “providing safe and reliable food ingredients” at our overseas group companies as production sites as well as at the domestic contract manufacturing companies. We secure food safety by setting strict quality management criteria and conducting inspection at each process from the raw material procurement to the sale of products. In addition, we regularly conduct safety inspections such as tests for residual pesticides, heavy metals, and radioactive substances such as cesium to ensure strict “food safety”.◆ Member of the Quality Management Committee
Quality Committee reports on the status of quality management and manages the progress of quality management of the DIC Group in Japan. It holds quarterly meetings in principle as a body to deliberate on the quality policy, key measures and important issues of the DIC Group in Japan. The committee consists of executive officers appointed by the Board of Directors, including the President and CEO, the Executive Vice President, the President of the Business Group, the General Manager of the Management Unit, and the General Manager of the Product Division, and one Auditor attends as part of the audit. The details and results of the Committee’s deliberations are reported to the Board of Directors.In addition to the Quality Committee, hosted by the President, the Company-wide Quality Meeting, which is hosted by the Deputy General Manager of the Quality Division, translates and communicates the policies and important measures of DIC in Japan into more specific measures, supervises the status of their implementation, and takes the best measures to address the issues faced by the business sites and Product Divisions. The Product Division Quality Meeting, hosted by the General Manager of the Product Division, pursues customer satisfaction. In addition to proposing new value to our customers, we also respond to their requests for Business Continuity Management (BCM) and change management.
On the other hand, the Business Site Quality Meeting, hosted by the head of the business site, appropriately operates the Quality Management System (QMS) and promotes quality improvement. We will investigate the cause of non-conformance products, formulate a plan for corrective action, prevent recurrence, and even formulate plans to prevent such problem in advances, and manage the implementation of them. The Quality Assurance Department and the Quality Control Department actively participate in these meetings and respond appropriately and promptly to issues.
[Initiatives]
Policy for Initiatives for Food Safety and Security
DIC Group has established and adheres to strict quality control standards to ensure the delivery of safe and secure products to customers based on the above basic policy. In addition to complying with relevant laws and regulations, we will improve product quality throughout the entire value chain, from planning and development to our customers, by thoroughly implementing a quality management system based on the international standards for food safety management systems. We will listen sincerely to our customers’ voices, utilize their suggestions to improve our products, and provide products and services that earn our customers’ trust and satisfaction.
DIC Group has established and adheres to strict quality control standards to ensure the delivery of safe and secure products to customers based on the above basic policy. In addition to complying with relevant laws and regulations, we will improve product quality throughout the entire value chain, from planning and development to our customers, by thoroughly implementing a quality management system based on the international standards for food safety management systems. We will listen sincerely to our customers’ voices, utilize their suggestions to improve our products, and provide products and services that earn our customers’ trust and satisfaction.
◆ Approach for “Maintaining Food Safety and Security”
(Maintaining Food Safety)DIC Group has acquired international quality management systems (FSSC22000, ISO22000, ISO9000, HACCP, cGMP, etc.) at its overseas Group companies and most of those domestic contract manufacturing companies in order to deliver the safe, high-quality products to our customers. In product inspection, we not only analyze components with various analytical instruments, but also perform microbiological tests and other tests such as color, odor, and taste. These product inspection results are managed in a traceable manner along with manufacturing records, and we have a system in place that allows us to promptly trace them when requested by our customers.
（Certifications held by DIC Spirulina）
| Company Name | Location | Foundation | Capital | Production | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIC Corporation | Japan | 1908 | |||
| Earthrise Nutritionals, LLC. | California U.S.A. | 1981 | 12.0 Million US$ | 550 tons | |
| Hainan-DICMicroalgae Co., Ltd. | Hainan People’s Republic of China | 1996 | 7.3 Million US$ | 350 tons | |
| Sun Chemical Corporation |
・Quality Policy:
DIC Group delivers safe and reliable products to its customers and contributes to the better diets and health of its customers around the world.
・Quality Assurance System:
DIC Group has established a global quality assurance system for all processes, from the procurement of raw materials to sales, from the perspective of ensuring safety, compliance with laws and regulations, and social integrity. In addition, we strive to provide high-quality products by formulating and implementing annual audit programs for overseas group companies and domestic contract manufacturing companies.
・Confirmation of Safety:
DIC Group conducts a variety of analyses in order to provide its customers with safe products. In addition, we guarantee more reliable quality by inspecting products in the development stage with strict standards. In addition, we strive to ensure safety by using packaging that comply with national packaging standards as those product containers and packaging are indispensable for delivering products to customers in a safe and secured condition. Recently, we have been developing products that reduce the weight of containers in consideration of reducing the burden on the environment.
・Ensuring Peace of Mind:
DIC Group conducts thorough shelf-life tests to confirm the quality of new containers and packaging in order to ensure that customers can take products with peace of mind. In addition, we thoroughly check from the raw material stage not only the 8 specific raw materials for which allergy labeling is required, but also the 20 items recommended for labeling, and strive to provide customers with the information necessary for labeling.
・Employee Training:
We develop and implement annual training plan on food-related laws and regulations and food hygiene. In addition, we also conduct product recall drills periodically to improve the skills and awareness of employees.
・Reflection of Voice of Customer:
We have created a database of customers’ feedback and built a system that responds quickly and appropriately to customer requests and are currently working on strengthening the functions of the service for the inquiry to DIC Healthcare Customer Service Center and its web online inquiries.
◆ Participation in External Initiatives Related to Food Safety
[Japan Health and Nutrition Food Association]
We are a member of the Japan Health and Nutrition Food Association. As a member of the association which is engaged in activities to ensure that consumers can use health foods with peace of mind and to develop sound development of the health food industry, we are collaborating with them to deliver safe, secured, and high-quality health foods to consumers.https://www.jhnfa.org/list-0.html
[Japan Alliance of Health Food Association]
We are a member of Japan Alliance of Health Food Association, an association of five major organizations in the health food industry. We are collaborating with stake holders in various fields and are working on activities for an improvement of health literacy broadly and a sound development and promotion of industries toward the realization of a society of healthy longevity.[Japan Food Additives Association]
We are a member of the Japan Food Additives Association and exchange information and opinions on safety. We produce and provide safe products by complying with the specific notices on safety issued by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Consumer Affairs Agency, and follow the laws and regulations.https://www.jafaa.or.jp/kyoukaiannai/aboutus2
In terms of safety, we are gathering information and cooperating with relevant authorities through the Association’s Safety Committee.
https://www.jafaa.or.jp/kyoukaiannai/aboutus3
[Natural Food Colours Association]
At overseas, our subsidiary SunChemical, is a member of the Natural Food Colours Association, and affirming their activities to support consumer choices based on credible scientific evidence.◆ Ensuring Correct Labeling of Processed Foods
DIC Group conducts safety tests at public institutions on a regular basis and accumulates a rich store of data in the integrated production of Spirulina from cultivation to finished products from the perspective of “providing products that customers can use with peace of mind”. In addition, DIC Group employees are stationed to take responsibility for production management, and also conducts receiving quality inspections under strict quality control standards within DIC group. Spirulina grown at our own facilities overseas is produced at our production facility which is certified and registered under ISO-9001, an international standard for quality assurance that stipulates quality management from the receipt of raw materials to the shipment of products. It has also been certified as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) as it was qualified stringent FDA (Food and Drug Administration reviews.◆ Development and Supplying Processed Foods with Low Environmental Impact
(Thorough implementation of “Food Safety”)We thoroughly ensure “Food Safety” by selling products that are produced under thoroughgoing safety and quality measures, such as using only raw materials that have been tested for contaminants (pesticides, heavy metals, radiation, etc.) and implementing proactive measures to prevent contamination by foreign substances, in cooperation with the Color Materials Products Division, overseas production facilities, contract manufacturers, and logistics bases,
◆ Assessments and Credentials（DIC）
| 1981 | The U.S. Food and Drug Administration releases a Talk Paper giving a favorable assessment of Spirulina as a source of protein, vitamins and minerals. |
|---|---|
| 1991 | DIC Corporation (formerly Dainippon Ink and Printing) provides Spirulina to children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion. |
| 1993 | At the request of the United Nations World Health Organization, DIC Corporation provides Spirulina to child refugees from former Yugoslavia being housed at a hospital in the Republic of Croatia. WHO comments that Spirulina is an interesting food, rich in iron and protein, that can be fed to children. |
| 2002 | Spirulina is supplied to health practitioners via the Red Cross Society of China and the Red Cross Society of Qingdao for supplementing nutrition and maintaining health |
| 2003 | The U.S. FDA includes Spirulina on the FDA list of foods Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) on the basis of documentation submitted jointly by Earthrise Nutritionals, LLC. (a DIC Group company) and Cyanotech |
| 2003 | Earthrise® Spirulina foods are listed in the nutritional supplement edition of the U.S. clinician’s handbook to prescription and nonprescription drugs |
| 2011 | DIC Spirulina is certified under the third-party safety certification program for health foods established by the Japan Health and Nutrition Association |
(Solving Social Issues such as Poverty and Hunger and Supporting the Realization of Healthy Lifestyles)
We donated DIC Spirulina products to children of Chernobyl and of Croatian refugee suffering from and malnutrition as we have realized a comment from an international organization stating Spirulina contains iron and protein and can be provided to children. In addition, we provided DIC Spirulina products and its production technologies free of charge to Zambia including industrial development. We will continue to solve social issues such as poverty and hunger and support the realization of healthy lifestyles.
(Social Contribution)
We are engaged in initiatives aimed at interacting with local communities and educating children. We conduct food education workshop, etc. for elementary school students to foster an interest and inquisitive mind about “food”. In addition, we contribute to the prevention of frailty and the extension of healthy life expectancy by promoting the importance of nutritional intake for the elderly.