Efforts regarding Quality
SQF Certification
The Ogawa Group has obtained the "SQF" certification for quality control standards managed by the Food Marketing Institute based in the United States. Our desire is to contribute to society by providing safe and high-quality meat.
ISO22000 Certification
The Ogawa Group has obtained the "ISO22000" certification for our system that protects the safety of food at all stages from production of food products to the delivery thereof to consumers. We handle products under even safer levels of sanitary control.
Our Facilities
As a factory established inside the Tokyo Meat Market,
we provide safe meat that can be trusted
The factory of the Ogawa Group that has been established inside the Tokyo Meat Market employs facilities that are made entirely out of stainless steel with excellent resistance to corrosion. As the factory is also equipped with air conditioning and sterilization facilities, all of the processes involved are controlled in a sanitary manner. Our streamlined system that allows us to vacuum-package meat for consumption directly after processing is another factor that realizes an even greater sanitary environment.
Flow of Dressed Carcass Processing Steps
The latest facilities have been installed to provide quality meat in a speedy manner.
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1. Auction Site
Meat is purchased in the state of "dressed carcass" where the whole has been split in half. Professionals with an excellent eye for selection take into consideration information such as the producer, breed, and rating as they acquire one dressed carcass at a time through an auctioning process.
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2. Sorting Refrigerator
Dressed carcass that has been acquired through the auction is stored until processing in a large refrigerator that maintains a temperature of 0°C. The latest automatic loading system is used for transportation from the auction site.
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3. Dissection / Bone Removal
In what is called the "Pretreatment Room," dressed carcass is dissected into the four major cuts of the shoulder, thigh, sirloin, and ribs, where then unnecessary bones are removed from each cut. As the dresses carcass is large, it is cut while left hanging on the lift.
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4. Fat Shaping and Cut Butchering
Excess fat is removed from the meat that has been divided and then the meat is shaped as products (special cuts) according to the orders from individual customers. This butchering work is quickly performed by professional butchers stationed along two rows of conveyor belts.
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5. Metal Detectors
Vacuum-packed products are placed through two metal detectors. All products are inspected with the metal detectors placed at different angles in order to prevent even the most unlikely incidents of a foreign object, such as a chipped piece of equipment, being contained in the product.
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Weighing and Packaging
Thoroughly inspected products are quickly weighed and packaged to prevent temperatures from increasing. As the history of products are managed with the numbers on the attached label, a scale compatible with the traceability system is used during this step.
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7. Product Refrigerator
Products that have been packaged are stored again in a refrigerator. The refrigerator is subject to 24-hour control to always maintain a temperature of 0°C and an alarm is sounded when the temperature rises due to such as the door being left open.
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8. Shipping
In order to prevent the products from being exposed to outside air, delivery trucks are placed right up against a shipping platform directly connected to the refrigerator where then the products are sent out in a sanitary state.
Flow of Sanitary Control
We realize the manufacturing of safe products by conducting thorough sanitary control.
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1. Boots Sterilizing Lockers
A specific type of rubber boots are worn inside the facilities. Rubber boots that have been worn are stored in a specially designed lockers equipped with an ozone sterilizing system in order to rid the boots of any unwanted bacteria while they are being stored.
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2. Air Shower (Facility Entrance)
When entering or leaving the room, workers pass through an air shower chamber that removes dust on the body with strong jets of pressurized air. The doors of the air shower chamber are automatically controlled to always only allow one-way passage.
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3. Rubber Boots Cleaning Basin
In order to prevent unwanted bacteria from outside of the factory infiltrating the facilities via the boots as a carrier, the soles of the rubber boots are disinfected in a basin filled with a cleaning solution. With similar facilities installed between each room, even the slightest unwanted bacteria is eliminated.
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4. Hand Washing
The basis of all sanitary control is hand washing. By not only regularly washing hands as is common with hand soap but also using alcohol for disinfection, the transfer of unwanted bacteria through equipment that is touched with hands is prevented.
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5. Air Shower (Processing Site Entrance)
Workers are exposed to an air shower again before entering the processing site. Although this process takes time, there is no such thing as being too careful in order to thoroughly remove any dust that has attached to clothing.
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6. Ozone Sterilization of Equipment and Garments
Similar to the rubber boots, knives and garments are also stored in storage cabinets equipped with a ozone sterilizing function. After careful cleaning by specialists, the entire floor of the processing site is also treated with ozone sterilization.
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7. Heated Showers
After finishing work, each worker uses a shower and a brush to wash away any stains on their rubber boots and apron. In order to enhance the sterilizing effect in addition to the cleaning effect, the showers use hot water.
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8. Rubber Boots Cleaners
When leaving the facility, workers pass through a specially designed brushing machine that cleans their rubber boots. Not carrying dirt from the workplace outside is an important measure in maintaining sanitation of the workplace.
Traceability
Everyone can feel safe in enjoying beef
by confirming the "profile" of every cattle
Ever since the problem with BSE that occurred in 2001, currently an identification number is attached to all domestically raised cattle. With cattle identified using numbers, all information from the birth to slaughtering and distribution of every individual cattle is disclosed. This makes it possible to quickly discover beef of questionable quality. With the enactment of the "Act on Special Measures concerning Management and Transmission of Information for Individual Identification of Cattle" in June, 2003, use of this "Traceability System" became mandatory and the Ogawa Group quickly incorporated the system. In order to protect the rights of consumers to "enjoy safe and delicious meat," the Ogawa Group will continue to properly disclose information regarding domestic beef and provide high-quality beef.
How to Access Managed Breeding Information
With the introduction of the traceability system, information can be confirmed by not only producers and distributors but also consumers with a computer connected to the internet. By accessing the website of the "National Livestock Breeding Center" and simply entering the individual identification number in the input field, it is possible to confirm an extensive amount of information regarding individual cattle such as the date of birth or import, the address of the breeding facility, the breeding period, and the date of slaughter. These individual identification numbers are also printed on the packages of beef sold in supermarkets.