Our quality philosophy can be summarised in one sentence: At Karwendel, the quality of our fromage frais and cream cheese specialities means everything! All ingredients – from the raw material to the final product – must satisfy our very strict requirements and each individual process step is documented internally. This love for precision, our willingness to continuously work on optimising our processes further and the in-depth understanding of our products allows us to produce cream cheese and fromage frais specialities at permanently high quality and with the creaminess that is synonymous for the name Karwendel.
MORE THAN 100 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN MILK PROCESSING
Everything we have done since the conception of our company in 1909 has centred around milk. Today, we are specialists for cream cheese and fromage frais specialities in all varieties and flavours. This unwavering focus and more than 100 years of experience in milk processing means that we know our products inside-out and give us the wherewithal to produce an incredible variety – and always with our finger on the pulse of consumer wishes.
PREMIUM QUALITY INGREDIENTS & RELIABLE PARTNERS
All ingredients – be it herbs, fruit or spices – are delivered by companies with which we have cultivated ties over many years and whose product quality we regularly verify. Many of these ingredients are manufactured specifically for us: The fruit acid content in the fruit preparations we source from well-known manufacturers, for example, must harmonise perfectly with the recipe for our fromage frais. In terms of spices and herbs, on the other hand, we mostly source the components individually and create our own secret compositions.
OUR EMPLOYEES: COMMITTED TO QUALITY
Excellent products can only be produced by excellent employees. Keeping our staff informed and motivated is just as important as providing ongoing training and career building opportunities – that is how passion and the commitment to our products is combined with precision and knowledge. The qualification and involvement of our staff at all levels is an important component of the quality management we employ every day.
CONSISTENTLY HIGH QUALITY AND ONGOING VERIFICATION
We believe in well-documented production processes: All ingredients – from the raw material to the final product – must satisfy our very strict quality requirements and each individual process step is documented internally. Periodic audits ensure that our cream cheese and fromage frais specialities present the same great flavours consistently. We repeatedly extract samples during the manufacturing process, which are analysed by trained production staff and in our company-internal laboratory. We contract external bodies if specific examinations are necessary.
END-TO-END TRACEABILITY
The manufacturing process for all products at Karwendel can be traced step-by-step: from the processed ingredients right down to the settings of the production system. In addition to the sell-by date, each product we retail bears a unique number code which can be traced back to its manufacturing batch.
SENSORY PANEL: THE FLAVOURS THAT SELL
There simply is no better method to test the wishes and expectations of consumers than sensory tests. That is why this area plays a crucial role in our quality management: Around 35 employees with sensory training from various areas of our company test our various products regularly. Since 2009, we have additionally selected a group of around 200 consumers, whom we regularly invite to Buchloe to taste and test our products from a consumer point of view.
A MATTER OF COURSE: QUALITY STANDARDS
Karwendel received its International Featured Standard Food (IFS) certification in 2004. The IFS standard explicitly certifies food product safety. We additionally monitor the manufacture of our products based on the special, internationally recognised HACCP concept (hazard analysis and critical control points). The procedure helps to identify and pre-emptively remove possible risks in the production process.