Safety standards
Product safety encompasses the regulations, monitoring, and cooperative efforts necessary to ensure that products available on the market meet safety standards and do not pose risks to consumers.
Wood raw material
Safety aspects are important throughout Metsä Group. One of our clear strengths lies in managing the entire wood raw material value chain from forest to our mill. This comprehensive approach is overseen by Metsä Group’s various business units.
All the wood fibre we use can be traced back to the forest it came from. Our wood raw material comes exclusively from controlled, traceable, and third-party-verified sources located in sustainably managed Northern European forests.
Product safety in pulp production
Our pulp mills produce fresh fiber pulp that is clean and suitable for use in products that come into contact with food. We take rigorous measures to ensure that nothing hazardous to human health is transferred to the food, and contact with packaging materials does not alter the taste, smell, or composition of the food.
Full control of the chemicals used in our production guarantees consistent high pulp quality and an unbroken product safety chain.
Over the years, Metsä Fibre pulp mills have diligently taken measures to identify any potential production risk factors that might introduce impurities or foreign matter into the pulp.
Our commitment to safety includes close monitoring of the pulp process and immediate reaction to any deviations. Metsä Fibre production sites adhere to good manufacturing practice (GMP), which is a basic requirement in Europe and is described in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 on good manufacturing practice for materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. In addition to meeting the basic requirements, all Metsä Fibre pulp mills are certified under the ISO 22000 food safety management system.
To maintain high standards, we continually develop indicators and methods for closely monitoring the pulp process. Our Pulp Expert online analysis tool provides constant monitoring, while process supervisors conduct visual checks to ensure quality. Additionally, an external service provider performs microbial analyses. Each of our mills has its own laboratory, where samples of pulp are analyzed multiple times per day. Basic measurements occur four to five times every hour.
Furthermore, the Metris FOX quality index monitors 15–20 key production parameters and triggers an alarm if guideline values are exceeded. Regular wastewater measurements and microbiological tests are also part of our safety protocols.
