ASI LLC joins Kiwa Group to expand Food, Feed & Farm Certifications in the United States
Kiwa welcomes American Food Safety Leader as family member
Today, global Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) company Kiwa announced the merger with St. Louis (USA) based ASI LLC to the Kiwa Group to strengthen Kiwa’s United States footprint significantly in providing Food, Feed & Farm certifications.
ASI, a leading food safety solutions company located in the Midwest region of the United States, has provided farm-to-fork food safety solutions since the 1940s. Based in St. Louis Missouri, America’s epicenter for consumer packaged goods, ASI offers a full suite of safety and quality services to the food and beverage, dietary supplements and, most recently, cannabis industries.
“Kiwa and ASI share similar customer-first business values and follow the same business model when it comes to testing, inspection and certification. By joining the Kiwa family, we’re combining their wide portfolio of accreditations and services (BRC, IFS, FSSC, PrimusGFS, GLOBALG.A.P., Rainforest Alliance, MSC/ASC, Organic/USDA and many others), their global business network and expertise with our client network in farm-to-fork food safety to assist our growing client base in North America even better,” said Charray Williams, CEO of ASI.
“Not only is this merger increasing our notoriety as a historically family-owned operation, it also strengthens ASI being privy to the evolving certification needs of emerging industries. Our accredited CSQ (Cannabis Safety and Quality) standard for the legalized use of cannabis ingredients into (food) products in the US market is an example of us capturing evolving certification needs. We are excited to share these types of cutting-edge insights with the Kiwa team, as well as supporting them globally with our SQF expertise in various countries across the globe, especially in Australia,” said Tyler Williams, CTO of ASI. Tyler will succeed Charray Williams as CEO per 1 January 2023 officially and lead the expansion of Kiwa and ASI in the Food, Feed & Farm sector in North America.
From pre-harvest to retail, ASI offers inspections, accredited certifications, training, consulting, and standards development. Standards covered include various global schemes recognized by the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) like SQF (the Safe Quality Food Program), and cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices), cGAP (current Good Agricultural Practices) complimented by custom second-party audits.
Kiwa is investing in ASI’s growth as a new member of the international Kiwa Group, and its global Food, Feed & Farm network. Together, the companies will collaboratively expand their reach and strengthen services both regionally and globally.
“Kiwa already has a strong footprint in the global Food, Feed & Farm sector. With ASI, we significantly expand our reach, expertise and footprint, particularly in the United States of America but certainly with a global perspective. Now that we have welcomed ASI to the Kiwa family, we can better provide our customers with a one-stop shop for food- and feed-related certification services on all continents. The addition will also strengthen our already significant presence in Latin America given its strong connection to the US market. All in all, it ensures a sustainable future for all of us,” said Richard Stolk, Kiwa’s global Director for the Food, Feed & Farm sector. Richard will also be the President of the Board of ASI LLC and will be directly involved in the further growth of ASI.
For more information, please contact kim@ringrelations.com in the USA and/or Annelies van Oosterom (Kiwa Food, Feed & Farm, globally) at Annelies.van.Oosterom@kiwa.com.
About ASI
ASI provides innovative, reliable and trusted food safety and quality solutions to help companies minimize risk, reduce recalls, and eliminate foodborne illness while protecting their brand and the health and well-being of their customers. ASI respects the challenges of keeping up with highly regulated industries and ever-changing audit requirements and is dedicated to making the inspection or certification process as smooth as possible. For over 75 years, ASI has offered inspections, accredited certifications, training, consulting and standards development to the food and beverage, dietary supplement, cannabis and consumer goods industries. ASI is accredited by ANAB (ANSI National Accreditation Board), as an SQF and CSQ Certification Body. The company, based in St Louis, Missouri, USA, employs safety & quality experts from coast to coast. For more information about ASI, visit ASIfood.com
About Kiwa
Kiwa is an independent, impartial, global Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) company. We offer laboratory, (statutory) inspection, auditing and assurance activities, supported and strengthened by (strictly separated) training, consultancy and data services. Our customers are in virtually all markets and in both the private and public sectors. Wherever they are, they can count on us to create trust in their products, services, processes, (management) systems and employees. We support them with more than 10,000 engaged employees, working from over 40 countries across Europe, Asia, North and Latin America and Oceania. The Kiwa headquarters are in Rijswijk, the Netherlands. We are a member of the global SHV Family of Companies. For more information about Kiwa, visit kiwa.com
