We are deeply committed to quality assurance in all of our processes, from product planning and development to material procurement, manufacture, distribution, sales, and services, in order to offer safe and reliable products to our customers.

We are working to provide enhanced quality assurance throughout the Suntory Group, both in Japan and overseas, in order to offer products that are safe and reliable.

Our Philosophy Underpins Quality Assurance

The Suntory Group has worked to ensure the quality of its products and services ever since its founding, taking the position that "the customer is number 1."
In 2004, we established the Suntory Group's Quality Policy to clarify our position on quality. All of our employees are constantly working to guarantee and improve quality.

• Quality Management System for Group Companies

In 2009, we created the Suntory Group Quality Management Code as part of our Group Governance initiatives. We have also created Quality Policy Guidelines that indicate the approaches, actions, and judgment criteria that each company in the Group should maintain. We are steadily making them a matter of common knowledge among all Group companies in Japan and overseas.

Groupwide Commitment to Quality Assurance

We established a Quality Assurance Committee to promote quality assurance throughout the Group. The Committee works to identify and reduce major quality risks, and to move forward on key strategic challenges related to quality. The Committee's discussions are reported as appropriate to the Group Business Strategy Board and it shares and resolves quality issues faced by group management.

• Quality Management System Audits for Group Companies

Meeting with Tipco F&B

We also began in 2009 to carry out quality management system audits of each of our operating companies, conducted by the Executive General Manager of Suntory Holdings Ltd.'s Quality Strategy Planning Division. These audits verify the quality management situation among executives and staff who handle quality issues in each company. Through these audits we determine the quality control situation in each company and the steps being taken to improve it. We are also striving to make everyone fully aware of the Suntory Group Quality Management Code we established in 2009. During the coming year and beyond, we plan to carry out these audits vigorously, particularly at major Group companies both in Japan and overseas.

• Improving Global Quality Assurance

As the sphere in which the Suntory Group conducts business extends even further around the world, we are concentrating heavily on improving quality assurance. In 2010, we expanded the capabilities of our quality assurance center in China (Shanghai), created the Monozukuri Center in Europe with the goal of improving quality levels at Group companies and with suppliers in that region, and began preparations for creating a dedicated organization that will develop the Suntory brand overseas.

Grounded in the Suntory Group's Quality Policy, our employees are continually working to maintain and improve the quality in all of our process, from product planning and development to material procurement, manufacture, distribution, sales, and services.

Plan and Development: Design Stage Check

We carry out scientific research and investigations along with rigorous analysis and testing when planning and developing a product, thoroughly confirming that it is safe and in full compliance with regulations so the customer can enjoy it in full peace of mind.

Procurement: Evaluating All the Risks of Ingredients

• Water: Analyzing and Testing All Water Used to Check Safety

Regular testing by the Safety Science Institute

The Safety Science Institute is charged with scientifically assuring the quality of Suntory Group products. Institute staff take regular samples of all the water used for products as well as the water used in processes like cleaning from plants in Japan and overseas to conduct analyses and tests to confirm its safety.

• Ingredients: Analyzing Every Imaginable Risk

Production site visits

We have created Safety Risk Management Groups for handling each ingredient individually. They analyze all of the risks that can be envisaged at every stage from the production of the ingredients to the time of their final use. We are compliant with all laws and regulations and ensure safety. In regard to quality assurance of agricultural chemical residues in particular, we ascertain which agricultural chemicals are in use and also send away samples in advance of the purchase of ingredients so they can be analyzed, in order to confirm that they satisfy legal standards on chemical residues.
In 2010, we reviewed the assurance system in place for measuring the chemical residues from coffee beans used as an ingredient in BOSS canned coffee.

• Containers and Packaging: Strictly Assessing Components

We have established our own strict standards for ensuring the safety of our containers and packaging. When procuring materials, we obtain them from packaging manufacturers who themselves have obtained a certificate of analysis from an official body, and the Safety Science Institute also conducts test to make certain that the constituent materials comply with the relevant regulations. We carry out multifaceted assessments of performance and safety using cutting-edge testing and analytic technology.
In addition, we conduct detailed analyses and tests to determine whether the container might affect a product's flavor, whether a product's constituent parts might be absorbed by the container, and the possibility of oxygen or ambient light affecting the quality of the contents. All such activities are connected to the selection and development of safe containers and packaging.

Manufacturing: Conforming to International Standards

We employ testing equipment in all parts of the manufacturing process, including preparation, mixing, packing, and packaging. We also carry out multilayered quality checks, making sure that no foreign substances get into either the containers or their contents, and looking for container damage and leaks. We also firmly believe that using the correct processes to make products lays the foundations for quality assurance. Accordingly, we make note of and manage the details of all the jobs performed in each process.
Additionally, to strengthen our "food defenses" (defenses against food terrorism) in our manufacturing plants, we have been gradually implementing the Food Defense Guidelines created in 2009 at our food and non-alcoholic beverage plants as well as our alcoholic beverage manufacturing plants. In 2010, we also started implementing the guidelines at distribution-related sites like our product storage warehouses.
As a company that conducts global business, the Suntory Group is united in its current efforts to obtain such certifications as the internationally recognized ISO 9001 standard for quality management.

Premium Gifts: Ensuring the Safety of Premium Gifts

Examples of premium gifts attached to products

We take the same position when it comes to confirming the safety of the premium gifts we use in sales promotions for our products as we do with the products themselves. The teams we organize to inspect premium gifts are composed of experts from 4 divisions. They apply their expertise in the advice they give to Suntory's Product Planning and Development divisions, and to the premium gift manufacturers. They also work together with the gift manufacturers to inspect the plants where the premium gifts are manufactured and to verify the ingredients, manufacturing processes, and methods used for inspecting the finished products.
In 2010, we established mechanisms and systems to check premium gifts from the customer's perspective, ahead of every promotional campaign we conduct.

Delivery: Commitment of Our Business Partners

Because we pay such particular attention to quality, we do what we can to ensure that this level of attention reaches our customers in just the way we intend it to be.

• During Transport

We work to increase awareness at all of the companies who assist us with distribution so that they understand our needs and work with us when it comes to transport and storage. Suntory staff also make site visits to product warehouses and check how products are managed and stored there.

• At the Point of Consumption

Draft beer seminars

We hold draft beer seminars for restaurant and bar operators so that consumers will enjoy tastier draft beer. Suntory staff also pay regular visits to restaurants and bars to help ensure product quality at the point of consumption.
In 2010, we created mechanisms and systems for bringing together and analyzing all the data coming into the Draft Beer Call Center that was established for consultations with businesses that serve our draft beer.

Scientific Evaluation: Product Analyses and Tests

Safety Science Institute

The Safety Science Institute is a cross-functional organization that addresses analytical science, microbial guarantees, and biological safety. Using its expertise in these areas, it assesses the safety of the products that the Suntory Group manufactures and sells. The Institute analyzes and tests everything from the ingredients, finished products, and their flavors to the containers and packaging, processing aids, and the quality of the materials in the production equipment that comes into contact with the contents of the products themselves. It checks the safety of those items based on standards Suntory has set—standards that are more exacting than the relevant laws.

Traceability: Instantly Checking a Product's History

We have been rolling out a traceability system at all our plants. This system uses QR codes^* (two-dimensional codes) that can track the history of a product from its raw materials through to its manufacture and distribution. This enables us to instantly check the history of a product that has been delivered to the customer as necessary. Then, if a potential issue is found with the ingredients, container, labeling, or other aspects after the product has been shipped, we have a system in place to immediately identify the shipping destination and take measures.

The Suntory Group believes information should be disseminated about quality assurance and related activities in an appropriate and easy to understand way to ensure customers' peace of mind and trust in the products and services we provide.

Easy to Understand Product Labeling

Our Quality Assurance Development Department reviews and checks product labels, as well as the language and depictions used in promotional materials and advertising, to ensure that they are appropriate and comply with the law.
It also keeps allergies in mind when investigating ingredients. Product labels on food contain not only the 7 items we are obliged to display under the Food Sanitation Law, but also another 18 recommended items.

• Disclosing Information That is Accurate and Easy to Understand

Website: Suntory's Commitment to Safety and Reliability (in Japanese only)

In our ongoing efforts to release appropriate information so that the information we provide to our customers is accurate and easy to understand, we give close attention to the wording used on our products and in our advertising. The Quality Policy Guidelines we formulated in 2009 set down our policy and stance regarding the disclosure of quality information.
In December 2010, we revamped our Japanese-language website on Suntory's Commitment to Safety and Reliability, the aim of which is to provide reliable information in a more approachable fashion.

Voluntary Recalls

While we do our utmost to assure quality, we also disclose information as appropriate when problems do arise.
Voluntary product recalls are announced by posting notices in newspapers. There were no recalls announced between January 2010 and May 2011.