October 14th, 2013 – St. George's, Grenada: In our beautiful Isle of Spice, Grenada Distillers Limited is the larger and better known distillery in operation.

Our products have achieved international acclaim by way of numerous World Spirits and International Wine & Spirits Awards and nods fromTheFiftyBest.com and Caribbean Rum & Beer Festival to name a few. Our greatest achievement to date, however, has been our HACCP Certification, received in July of this year from SGS, the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certifying body.

HACCP Certification became a major objective for the company in February 2012, with our initial project end date of April 2012; the process came to a successful end in July 2013, a full seventeen (17) months later.

The road was a long and arduous, but nevertheless rewarding. Spurred into action by a former board member, Mr George Michael Kirton; our General Manager, Mr Ruel Edwards, spearheaded the task at hand, with the support of our wise Board of Directors, headed by Mr Leroy Neckles.

With the commitment of budgeted resources, the entire management team was guided on this journey by our able Technical Director, Ms Heida Rahim.

HACCP Certification, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Certification, ensures that Grenada Distillers Limited is satisfying the local and global markets’ growing need for safely manufactured goods, allowing consumer confidence in our products.

The certification process has educated the entire staff complement of Grenada Distillers Limited in a number of critical areas:

·         Food Safety

·         Awareness of Possible Risks during Manufacture

·         Ensuring Product and Raw Material Traceability through the entire process

·         The impact of effective GMPs on the reduction of Customer Complaints

·         Consistency in Inspection Criteria

·         Improved Responsiveness to Problems using devised Corrective Actions

These are only a few of the areas to which we were exposed.

There were many challenges faced by the organisation during the preparation for HACCP Certification.

The process required:

·         A complete culture change

·         Restructuring activities

·         Implementation of documentation in all areas

·         Training and re-training in concepts such as Internal Audits, Corrective Actions and overall Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

These were some of the challenges which we overcame.

Contrary to the athletic ease with which our own Kirani James and Jamaica’s ‘Lightning Bolt’ appear to stay ahead of their competition; it was as the great Winston Churchill said:

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential”

And Grenada Distillers Limited has done just that.

With our HACCP Certification under our belt and the mammoth task of ensuring all principles and requirements are maintained on a daily basis; we join the leaders in our industry on the shelves of the global market, carrying Grenada’s top class rums to the world.

We are now well equipped to make our contribution to our small island’s economic growth, by increasing our export opportunities and a potential for job creation in our society.

Our customers at home and worldwide can now partake of our high quality products with the knowledge that they are compliant to an internationally accepted Food Safety Standard and on par with products from the world leaders in our industry.

To our brother and sister companies in the Grenadian public and private sector…………take the plunge………become certified and allow your customers and ultimately our beloved island of Grenada to benefit from the enhanced efficiency and environmental sustainability which will inevitably result.