The winners of the 2012 Meat & Poultry Processing Awards were announced at a glittering awards ceremony on Monday 26th March 2012 at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham.

Now in their 3rd year, the awards recognise and reward excellence across the meat and poultry processing sector. Ed Bedington - Editor of the Meat Trades Journal said ‘The UK meat and poultry processing sector represents some world-class businesses and we have a lot to be proud of. Some of our companies are setting standards for the rest of the world to follow and that is definitely something we should be celebrating.’

We are delighted to announce Dawn Meat's Charlotte Sutton (pictured above in white) was awarded the Plant Manager of the Year.

Dawn Meats is delighted to announce the acquisition of West Devon Meats, a beef and lamb abattoir in the South West of England.  David Fleetwood - Operations Director of Dawn Meats UK said “We are very excited to be able to offer West Country Beef and Lamb, which has a great reputation to our new and existing customers and look forward to working with our new staff to grow the business in Devon”.

Arthur Cleave - Procurement Manager of West Devon Meats said “We’ve had a fantastic relationship with Dawn Meats in continental Europe over many years and it’s great news for our Farmer Suppliers of both cattle and sheep that Dawn Meats is investing in the South West of England to enhance their UK procurement network”.

For Further Information Contact

UK: Mr Isla Roebuck, Development Director Primary Processing, Dawn Meats UK, Tel: 0044 1294 461921

Ireland: Mr Paul Nolan, Group Development Manager, Dawn Meats Group, Tel: 00353 51 309 200

Dawn Meats are delighted to announce that they have been shortlisted by the Green Awards judging panel, chaired by Mr Duncan Stewart, in the Green Large Manufacturer category for 2012. 

Dawn Meats Environmental Manager, Mr Charlie Coakley, said that he and all the team were indeed honoured to share the shortlist with global giants Intel, Pfizer and Xerox, particularly on their first attempt and are looking forward to the awards ceremony on 19th April.

Dawn Meats have a strong environmental policy and are steadfastly committed to continuous improvement and this prestigious recognition will further boost our efforts in this critical area of our business.

ISO 14001 International Environmental Management Best Practice Awarded to Dawn Meats by Certification Europe.  ISO 14001 is the most regarded environmental management system standard by the business community and is recognised worldwide. To comply with the standard an organisation must have formal processes and policies in place to ensure the company’s impact on the environment is minimal. The operation in Ballyhaunis went to great measures to implement this best in class environmental management system which involved the team onsite identifying every element of the business that could have a negative effect environment and applying control measures to minimise that impact.

The company focussed on three key areas;
• Water consumption
• Energy Consumption
• Product packaging

Water Savings were achieved with the installation of new steriliser equipment, using water reuse technologies and changing work practices in the Abattoir Cleaning Process. These initiatives have reduced water use by over 10,000 m3 per annum.

Energy Savings were achieved with the roll out with a heat recovery system which recovered heat from the refrigeration plant that used to be wastefully emitted to the atmosphere. This new heat recovery system resulted in a reduction in energy required to heat the water for abattoir cleaning. It has been calculated the 70,000 litres have oil have been saved annually with these new energy awareness measures, thus reducing Dawn Meats carbon footprint dramatically.

As the packaging plays a big role in Dawn’s business it was imperative that environmental impact of this was addressed through the implementation of an ISO 14001 Environmental Management system. Packaging was redesign to reduce cardboard usage, the new eco design of packaging process not only included Dawn staff but customers also got involved with some innovative ideas. As a result of the eco design less packaging is being used and more packaging is being recycled.

To achieve the ISO 14001 certification the facility in Mayo underwent a number of onsite audits by the Ireland’s International ISO Certification Body, Certification Europe. The audits involved the examination of work practices onsite, environmental training records of staff, evidence of top level management commitment to the Environmental Policy and confirmation that the facility was complying with Irish and EU Environmental legislation and protocol.

At the awarding of ISO 140001 certificate Ciarán O’Malley Business Development Manager of Certification Europe stated that, “Dawn’s achievement of ISO 14001 certification shows the company is really aware of its responsibility to minimise its impact on the environment, and they should be held up  within the food industry as a leading figure for environmental best practice.”   Also speaking at the ceremony Charlie Coakley Group Environmental Manager for Dawn Meats stated “We have been operating an environmental management system since the late 90’s, as an organisation Dawn Meats has always recognised the importance of the environment, but the ISO 14001 certification from Certification Europe proves that we are meeting international environmental best practice.” 

More About Certification Europe: Certification Europe provides ISO management system certification and inspection services to organisations across the globe that allows them to perform better and be able to prove it. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Certification Europe has operations in United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey and Japan.  As an external certification body, Certification Europe is renowned for its pragmatic approach  and value added approach to the audit process amongst its current clients.  The company currently assesses approx 3000+ organisations internationally on an annual basis. Clients range from micro enterprise to multinationals and include Government Departments, State Bodies and private organisations.

Certification Europe can certify organisations to the following best practice standards;

- ISO 9001 Quality Management
- ISO 14001 Environmental Management
- OHSAS 18001 Occupational, Health and Safety Management
- ISO 50001 Energy  Management
- ISO 27001 Information Security Management
- ISO 20000 IT Service Management
- BS 25999 Business Continuity Management

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http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/626292
http://www.enviro-solutions.com/news.htm
http://www.irishpackaging.com/aggregator/sources/1

Waterford Festival of Food Dungarvan took to the Farmer’s Market just before Christmas to meet and greet its supporters and sponsors.  Festival Chairman Donal Connolly was delighted to accept sponsor cheques at this hospitality event from FBD and Dawn Meats.  The Festival hospitality staff was generously supplied with seasonal delighted by various local suppliers.

The Festival of Food has a very exciting schedule of events planned for February and March as well as for the Festival weekend itself April 12th to 15th.  Dawn Meats is delighted to be associated with the Festival and will continue to have a full complement of their products on each occasion.  For more log on to http://www.waterfordfestivaloffood.com/

Pictured below: Tom Giligan - Waterford City Council, Clive Carter & Michael Wall - Dawn Meats and Chairman of Waterford Festival of Food - Donal Connolly.