Pure and safe commodities – the basis for quality ingredients
A continuous focus on quality and safety. Healthy animals that are well cared for. The commodities that enter Bioco's unique process are of world class quality.
Healthy animals as the basis for safe commodities
Norway has many natural benefits that help prevent diseases. In addition, there is a strong focus on preventive health. These two factors contribute to pure and safe commodities that are used by Bioco to produce quality ingredients.
Norway has a cold climate, and farms are small and scattered. This contributes to lower disease pressure. The education and competence level of producers is high. In an international perspective, the average Norwegian farm is small with a limited number of animals. This makes it easier to maintain a good overview of the health status of all the animals.
Norway benefits from a cold climate with a pure and abundant nature, resulting in a natural scattering of farms across the country.
Photo: Sune Eriksen
Animals in Norway are among the healthiest in the world. Norway's agricultural antibiotic use is the lowest in Europe and one of the lowest in the world. Norway’s livestock industry, together with veterinarians and farmers, has been working systematically to reduce the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals, both through preventive health work, breeding and responsible use of antibiotics. Chicken in Norway is produced without preventive narasin - up to now Norway is the only country in Europe that manages this successfully. This contributes to reducing the risk of antibiotic resistant microorganisms.
It is not allowed to use GMO or growth hormones in animal feed. All feed concentrate is heat treated.
There is a strong focus on preventing bacteria to spread from animals to humans. There are strict hygiene routines and infection controls on the farm, in the slaughterhouse and during food production. Active surveillance regarding animal diseases, feed and food safety contribute to healthy animals and safe food.
Good animal welfare is a prerequisite
Good animal welfare is key for good animal health and forms an important part of the responsibility for the care of animals. Norway has a tradition of looking after animal welfare.
Rules and regulations regarding animal welfare on farms, during transport and at the slaughterhouse are very strict. Any deviations are reported immediately to the food safety authorities, and frequent veterinary visits are mandatory.
Norway has developed and implemented animal welfare programs per species. For chicken, there is a specific focus on ensuring good foot and leg health and minimizing stress, for example through giving more space, good light conditions and enrichment of the environment. Norway has typically stricter regulations regarding animal welfare than the EU.
A strong value chain and a focus on quality
A unique benefit that Bioco and their customers have is that physical integration of the Bioco plant at the slaughterhouse at Hærland, Norway, allows for an uninterrupted supply chain without external transport. Raw materials are directly maneuvered from the carving line into the Bioco process through a vacuum controlled pipe. This ensures that the raw materials are super-fresh and are not exposed to any outside variation during external transport.
Bioco benefits from physical integration with Nortura Hærland, ensuring super-fresh raw materials straight from the source.
Bioco also benefits from the good production, quality and traceability systems in place that help the entire sector to monitor the status within the sector and continuously work towards further improvement. The Quality system in Agriculture (Kvalitetssystemet i Landbruket, KSL) is used to monitor compliance with laws, regulations and demands from customers. In addition, Bioco is BRC-certified and approved for production of food by the Norwegian Food Safety Authorities.
