Suntory Beverage & Food (“the Company”) aims to be the most trusted and beloved beverage company and is committed to improving the quality of its products and services.
Every employee always endeavors to sustain and improve quality according to the Suntory Quality Policy of "All for the Quality," which clarifies our approach to quality, to earn even greater trust from customers.

Suntory Quality Policy

Suntory Beverage & Food is committed to maintaining and improving the quality of the products and services we provide. In order to provide the best quality of our products and services, meet the expectations of our customers, and continue to fulfill our social responsibility, we are promoting quality management throughout the company.
We have established a Quality Assurance Committee to address key challenges on a cross-sectional basis in line with the Group's common quality strategy.
Suntory Beverage & Food shares and deploys the Suntory MONOZUKURI Values with group companies outside Japan. These shared values represent the philosophy and action guidelines for craftsmanship that the Suntory Group has cherished since its founding.

Quality Management System

All of Suntory Beverage & Food’s 10 plants in Japan have acquired certification in the international standards ISO 9001 (quality) and FSSC 22000 (food safety). In operations outside Japan, group companies have acquired certifications including ISO 9001 and FSSC 22000 as well as other certifications such as in halal food and beverage production, according to local business characteristics.

Initiatives for Quality in All Processes

Suntory Beverage & Food has established the Quality and Food Safety Policy on Beverage Production, and aims to become the most trusted and beloved beverage company by maintaining and improving quality in all processes throughout the value chain, from R&D, product planning and design, raw ingredient procurement, manufacturing, and distribution to sales. We also believe that it is important for each and every employee, as a member of the Suntory Group, always to be aware that they are responsible for the quality of our products. Accordingly, we continue to implement quality education and awareness programs via internal training and other means.

Water, crops, natural resources

• Water: Daily analyses and inspections
• Crops: Checking crops at their origins, confirming standards for aroma and flavor in quality meetings with producers
• Safety assessment of raw ingredients: Investigating ingredients, regular quality audits of suppliers, obtaining quality assurance documentation based on our own standards

For more details on water, please see here

For more details on crops, please see here

For more details on safety assessment of raw ingredients, please see here

Research and Development

• Scientific evaluation: Evaluating raw materials, foreign substances, microorganisms, etc., and conducting safety testing on biological impact

For more details on scientific evaluation, please see here

Product Planning and Design

• Checking product labeling: Checking related laws and regulations, industry standards, internal standards, clarity of representations, etc.
• Product design reviews: Risk assessments encompassing the product lifecycle, from the customer drinking the product to disposal, conducted at designated stages spanning product planning, development, and launch
• Container packaging: Risk assessments encompassing everything from material selection to manufacturing for each type of container

For more details on product labelling, please see here

For more details on product design reviews, please see here

For more details on container packaging, please see here

For information on food safety monitoring including ingredient and container safety, allergen labeling, and radioactive substance checks, please see Food Safety.

Production

• Acquiring quality and food safety certifications (ISO 9001 and FSSC 22000) at manufacturing sites
• Strengthening manufacturing security and food defense
• Improving initiatives based on cross-factory quality guidelines

For more details on production, please see here

Logistics

• Educational activities for transportation and storage partners
• Checking temperature and humidity in warehouses, and monitoring their management

For more details on production, please see here

Sales

• Regular maintenance checks of beverage dispensers

For more details on sales, please see here

For details on initiatives in each process across the value chain, please see Quality Assurance.

Food Safety

Monitoring Product Safety

For various initiatives to monitor food safety, please see Food Safety.

Product Safety Training

Believing it vital that all employees of Suntory Beverage & Food recognize themselves as a custodian of quality and act accordingly, we continually provide quality education and awareness-raising programs via internal training and other opportunities.

Appropriate Information Disclosure

Suntory Beverage & Food strives to offer information related to safety and reliability to customers in an appropriate and timely manner. We also indicate information on product labels, in commercials, and in ads in a way that is clear, accurate and not misleading. Furthermore, we conduct responsible marketing as a corporate group that offers diverse products and services, following the Suntory Group’s Code of Business Ethics.

We promote the display of accurate product information in a way that is accessible and easily understood by consumers. In order to ensure the accuracy of product information, we collaborate with the related divisions in charge of development and production, and also confirm the compliancy and accuracy of disclosed information through our Group Quality Assurance Division.
In Japan, Suntory Beverage & Food conducts thorough reviews of raw ingredients used in our products in order to display energy, carbohydrates, and sodium chloride (salt equivalent) as well as confirm the need for allergen labeling. We are sure to include not just the 7 items required by law to be shown on our labels, but the 20 items recommended to be displayed.
In Oceania, adapting the Health Star Rating* food labeling scheme with the % Daily Intake Energy icon on front-of-pack labeling is easy for the customers to make choices on which product to choose.

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  Health Star Rating System…A front-of-pack labeling system that ranks and labels packaged food's overall nutrition profile from half a star to five stars.

Product Information

Initiatives at Group Companies Outside Japan

We share common goals and values with group companies in Japan, Europe, Asia-Oceania, the Americas, and Africa, and we establish fundamental rules and systems for our activities and implement quality assurance initiatives in line with regional characteristics. Comprehensively targeting everything from water and raw ingredients to manufacturing processes and products distributed to the market, we undertake initiatives to meet quality requirements and expectations, not only of consumers but of all stakeholders.
Leveraging coordination and networking across regions outside Japan as well, we emphasize mutual development by swiftly and effectively sharing a wide range of information. We also focus on fostering talent to propel these activities, strengthening the infrastructure to enhance the sustainability of our efforts.

See Activities of Overseas Group Companies for details

Responding to Incidents

While we strive to ensure thorough quality assurance, in the event of an issue, we swiftly investigate, take action to address the affected products, and disclose information appropriately according to predetermined procedures.

For information on voluntary recalls, please see Voluntary Recalls at the Suntory Group website

Responsible Marketing

Responsible Marketing Policy

The Suntory Group Code of Business Ethics establishes our basic policy in Section 1.2, "Information and responsible marketing," stating: " We strive to provide accurate and timely information, including with respect to the reliability and safety features of our products, that helps our customers and consumers make informed decisions. We ensure that our product labels, advertisements, and commercial messages are clear, accurate and not misleading. Furthermore, as a corporate group that engages in a wide variety of businesses, we are committed to the responsible marketing of all our products and services."
In Suntory Beverage & Food Europe, we participate in UNESDA’s* responsible marketing in schools program.
We have become a founding signatory of the new EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices in 2021. Our commitments towards reformulation of our drinks, food waste reduction and the creation of sustainable packaging fully support the EU’s objective to place healthier products on the market and to support the transition towards a circular economy.
The UK has created its own voluntary marketing code to ensure that responsible corporate citizenship is at the heart of everything we do. This includes our commitment not to directly market products categorized as high in fat, sugar and salt ("HFSS") to consumers who are under the age of 16, and under the age of 18 in Ireland.
In France, we volunteered in 2009 to not communicate on screens and in magazines aimed specifically at children under the age of 12-year-old. Since 2013, our commitments go further because we prohibit all advertising in generalist programs where children constitute more than 35% of the audience.
In Spain, our code of marketing practice specifically states that we do not advertise to children under 12 years of age or sponsor events aimed at children in schools. We also convey messages in all our advertising campaigns promoting healthy lifestyle habits.
In Oceania, we are ensuring our marketing activities are responsible and do not actively target children. Also we partnered with New Zealand government as part of the Healthy Kids Industry Pledge. We directly sell only water to primary and intermediate schools in New Zealand.

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  UNESDA = Union of EU (European Union) Soft Drinks Associations

Auditing for Responsible Marketing

Labeling on products is checked to ensure that it complies with relevant laws and regulations,* voluntary industry standards, and the Suntory Group’s own standards. In addition, we endeavor to use expressions that are clear, accurate and not misleading, and expressions that are easy for consumers to understand, including in advertisements and publicity.

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  Food Sanitation Act, Food Labeling Act, JAS Act, Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, Health Promotion Act, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, Measurement Act, Containers and Packaging Recycling Act, etc.