In 1909, only two years after immigrating to the United States from Germany, a man named Otto Kolschowsky opened a small retail meat market and butcher shop in a suburb of Chicago. Just eight years later, he’d achieved enough success to add a wholesale element to his business. When his children joined the company in 1928, Kolschowsky’s business was rebranded as “Otto & Sons,” where it continued to be a small yet vital part of a quickly growing immigrant community.
Over the years, Otto and his family worked tirelessly to build something from nothing, fulfilling the American dream. In 1955, the family business was chosen as the first ground beef supplier to the new fast-food franchise called McDonald’s – and from there the company evolved into the global corporation that is now known as OSI Group.
While OSI Group has grown and adapted over the last century, a few core elements have remained the same. It is still dedicated to offering customers tailored food solutions made to their precise specifications, with absolutely no exceptions. It still works hard to create an efficient and trustworthy supply chain to best serve its customers. It aims to provide innovative research that, when coupled with state-of-the-art facilities, helps bring the menus and meal ideas of clients to life in the most efficient ways possible.
Food safety and quality assurance are also of the utmost importance and the highest priority for OSI Group. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one out of every six Americans will get sick from food-based illnesses annually. That equals 48 million people, and of that number, 128,000 will go to the hospital for serious treatment. Some 3,000 of those individuals will die.
OSI Group knows that reducing foodborne illnesses by just 1% would prevent half a million people in the United States alone from getting sick each year. If foodborne illnesses were reduced by 10%, it would keep five million people from getting sick and potentially dying.
That is why food safety and quality assurance are always a top priority at OSI Group. Clients know they can turn to OSI for fresh, innovative ways to deliver next-generation food solutions to their own clients, and that this food is prepared in the safest ways possible. This has been one of the core tenets of OSI Group since it was founded, and it will continue to be for the life of the company.
The OSI Group Approach to Food Safety
From the moment that OSI Group first opened its doors, its core mantra has remained the same: Delivering the highest level of food safety is non-negotiable.
That’s why the team works hard not only to set high expectations for themselves, but also for the suppliers they work with. They insist on the application of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems based on proactive, forward-thinking approaches to food safety in all supplying facilities located around the world. This emphasis provides the best possible way to manage risk and ensure food is safe to eat.
All of OSI’s global facilities work to maintain Global Food Safety Initiatives (GFSI) certification, or other globally recognized certifications for their food safety and quality systems in the countries where the company operates. Additionally, OSI conducts third-party human rights and social welfare audits at 25 of its facilities on an annual basis.
OSI Group believes so strongly in this important principle that it’s also proud to host Food Safety Week each year. In September 2019, for example, OSI’s production facilities and corporate offices participated in fun and innovative activities designed to both create food safety awareness and strengthen food safety culture. All of this serves as an example of the company’s commitment to food safety and quality. A few of the topics covered during the 2019 activities were allergens, foreign material prevention and microorganisms — all of which are hazards that food processing plants aim to control.
The same was true of Food Safety Week in 2018 when OSI Group focused on empowering conversations about how to keep families as safe as possible when preparing delicious, nutritious meals at home. Focusing on these topics was a great way to demonstrate how OSI Group also practices the same steps in its manufacturing sites.
OSI Group: A Century of Innovation, a Commitment to Quality
OSI knows putting rigid policies in place is just the first step in food quality and safety. Just as important, the company goes above and beyond by regularly checking and cross-checking how its facilities are upholding those standards.
OSI Group always makes it a priority to use techniques that include:
- HACCP Deviation Trending
- Raw Material and Ingredient Standards Monitoring
- Sanitation, Microbiological & Environmental Surveillance Tracking
- Routine Product Consistency Reports
- Annual QA Audits
- Process Control Measures
Beyond that, leaders at OSI Group are also dedicated to staying up to date with all new laboratory methods as they emerge, as well as food safety research and processing techniques that they can put to good use. They regularly develop newer and more sophisticated product specifications, quality parameters and product preparation instructions. They also put safety first whenever they design new processes or put new equipment in use in production environments around the world.
The stakes are far too high to “get this one wrong.” OSI believes food safety isn’t a privilege — it’s a right.
One of the most important aspects of OSI Group’s approach to food safety and quality assurance is its commitment to an environment where continuous improvement is not a recommendation, but a requirement. When it comes to a topic as crucial as this one, OSI believes you can never assume you’ve “done enough” to address such important matters. You must always be looking for areas of improvement. You must always be aware of opportunities to get better.
These were the philosophies Otto Kolschowsky believed in, and OSI Group remains steadfast to that commitment now and into the future.
