Following an incident involving contamination of a snack on-board a Qantas flight this week, manufacturer, The Sydney Biscuit Company, has issued a media statement.

The Sydney Biscuit Company stressed that the company treats the integrity and quality of its branded products with the highest levels of importance and critical management. The affected product was an individual portion of Trail Mix manufactured by The Sydney Biscuit Company.

The Sydney Biscuit Company’s CEO, Harvey Crabtree said, “This product is supplied to our customers throughout Australia who then store it themselves or with third party suppliers until it is required for use or transport it for use within Australia or Internationally.”

Mr Crabtree said that the “very regrettable” incident and the root-cause analysis and investigation are in progress with the customer and a third party responsible for logistics and storage. Mr Crabtree said, “Since this format of product first appeared on this particular service and route some four years ago we have distributed in excess of five million savoury snacks - a figure and products we are very proud of, many passengers send us in e-mails and stories relating to their travels and experiences. “All products leave our site in A1 condition.

We also retain samples from each and every batch of product produced and packed. Our retained samples relevant to the batch which left the business in November 2011 are showing no indications of integrity issues,” Mr Crabtree added. “The Sydney Biscuit Company has in place accredited and audited HACCP and FSANZ certified production facilities backed up with the highest standards of technical management and subsequently quality control and assurance,” he said.

Australian Food News