All Nippon Airways (ANA) is now the first Japanese airline to receive the CEIV Fresh certification. The international quality certification, established by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), was handed to ANA on 3 July 2023 to recognise the airline’s excellence in moving perishable products.
“Deliver consistent and high quality to our customers across our operations is crucial to ANA’s core business values,” said Kenichi Wakiya, Executive Vice President of ANA and President of ANA Cargo.
“This recognition from IATA reaffirms ANA’s commitment to upholding high standards in handling, training and quality control of goods transportation. We remain committed to surpassing quality expectations and continuously improving our transportation processes.”
Japan has set a target to increase exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products to 2 trillion yen in 2025 and 5 trillion yen in 2030, the airline noted. The target requires selecting transportation operators that can maintain freshness through a high-quality control system, similar to what ANA has at Tokyo Haneda Airport.
ANA’s quality control system at Tokyo Haneda Airport, encompassing personnel, training, quality control and handling manuals for transporting perishable goods, was recognised by IATA, which led to the certification.
IATA developed the CEIV Fresh certification to recognise companies and organisations involved in air transport for the proper handling of perishable food products. It aims to minimise product damage and waste caused by environmental factors, such as temperature changes during handling and transportation.
CEIV Fresh Certification is based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety control list, the IATA Perishable Cargo Regulations (PCR), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) international standard for food safety management systems 22000:2018, and other standards related to fresh food.
“Given the sensitive nature of perishables, maintaining product integrity requires exceptional standards. With ANA’s certification, shippers can rest assured that their cold-chain logistics needs are handled with the utmost care, further bolstering Japan’s goals of escalating agricultural, forestry, and fishery exports,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president for operations, safety and security.
