Tradition Meets Modern Standards with SALSA
‘Pursuing SALSA certification helps uphold quality systems across all aspects of the standard, ensuring the integrity of food safety management. This goal engages everyone in the company, promoting continuous improvements and ensuring everyone understands what is necessary for success.’
Carl Taulty – Operation Manager, William Santus & Co. Ltd. (Uncle Joe’s)
William Santus & Co. Ltd. is a fourth-generation family business, established in 1898, specialising in the manufacture and wholesaling of confectionery. Operating under the well-known Uncle Joe’s brand, the company offers a diverse range of products distributed globally. Their flagship product, Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls, continues to be crafted using the original 1898 recipe, with just three natural ingredients cooked over open gas fires, maintaining the nineteenth-century sweet-making tradition. While preserving handmade manufacturing processes, the company has embraced modern packaging innovations, enabling it to cater to international markets with multilingual and nutritionally compliant packaging formats.
Journey to SALSA
Recognising the need to align with larger customer requirements, William Santus & Co. sought to formalise its policies and procedures through third-party certification. Achieving SALSA Approval in 2011 has been a key step in redeveloping in-house systems to ensure consistent product quality and safety standards.
Impact of SALSA Certification
- Enhanced Compliance and Standards: While retaining traditional manufacturing methods, the company now confidently maintains that all its processes adhere to modern compliance requirements. SALSA has reinforced the business’s ability to trace all materials used in production, ensuring full accountability in the event of recalls or traceability concerns.
- Operational Improvements: The certification process has led to systematic reviews of documentation, building maintenance (internal and external), and staff training requirements. These are now regularly updated to align with the SALSA standard.
- Strengthened Food Safety Culture: The company's early adoption of SALSA (2011) helped establish a structured approach to food safety, implementing best practices to create a secure and effective food safety culture.
Supportive Audit Process
The audit process has been invaluable, with auditors offering informative guidance and constructive feedback. Leveraging the tools and tips provided by SALSA has greatly contributed to maintaining high standards across operations.
For William Santus & Co., achieving and maintaining SALSA Approval has been a transformative step in ensuring product consistency, regulatory compliance, and business growth. The certification has reaffirmed their ability to uphold traditional confectionery craftsmanship while meeting modern food safety and quality standards, paving the way for continued success in domestic and international markets.
SALSA Food & Drink Production
The SALSA Food and Drink Production Standard reflects both the legal requirements of producers and the enhanced expectations of professional buyers. SALSA certification is only granted to small and micro producers who can demonstrate in an audit that they can produce safe, legal food and drink and are committed to continually implementing the Standard.
