Food ingredients supplier Edme has been given an AA rating for an announced audit in the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) global food standard award.

The AA rating is the highest possible mark for a company, and Mike Carr, sales director of Edme, said it was a “tribute to the work of the team”.

He pointed out that the companies that go through to reach the exacting standards set by the BRC are many and complex.

“It takes a great team effort to pass the accreditation – and an even bigger one to get the top mark,” he said.

Quality manager Renata Faldo co-ordinated the process from start to finish, holding everyone to account and ensuring they achieved the company’s best-ever grading.

“To achieve an AA rating, there has to be an open culture, where team members work together to identify potential problems and support each other in putting things right,” said Faldo.

“The award belongs to the whole Edme team. It vindicates the trust put in us by our bakery and food-producing customers; the supermarkets who stock their products; and the consumers who buy bread and other foods containing our flours and flakes.”