All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest and 5-Star airline for 10 consecutive years, has achieved CEIV Fresh certification, making it the first Japanese airline to be recognised.

IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Perishable Logistics (CEIV Fresh) is a global standard and was developed to recognise companies and organisations involved in air transportation for the proper handling of perishable food products.

Kenichi Wakiya, executive vice president of ANA and president of ANA Cargo, said: “Deliver consistent and high quality to our customers across our operations is crucial to ANA’s core business values.

“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.”

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.

Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president for operations, safety and security, said: “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.”

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries set a target to increase exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products to two trillion yen in 2025 and five trillion yen in 2030. The target requires selecting transportation operators who maintain freshness through a high-quality control system.

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, leading to the certification. By elevating the quality of food transportation within the supply chain through lead-time reduction and temperature control, it is possible to contribute to the reduction of food loss (food waste).

In 2017, ANA was the first Japanese airline to receive CEIV Pharma certification, a quality certification for pharmaceutical transportation established by IATA.