Food Safety

Calise & Sons Bakery, Inc. was established in 1908 and has grown from a small, neighborhood bakery to our current plant located in Lincoln, RI. As the company approaches 103 years of service to the community, our pride in all of our products and our commitment to quality and food safety has grown along with our physical plant.

Calise and Sons has always taken great pride in providing customers with the highest quality products and services. Toward that end, the Food Safety Department is committed to all areas of food safety and product quality. Under the direction of the Food Safety and Assistant Food Safety Managers, the 40-person department is engaged in maintaining the highest standards of food safety, product quality and hygiene.

Calise and Sons uses the proactive HAACP based food safety system which places emphasis on recognizing critical points in the food processing operation that may present a hazard to public health and designing effective preventative procedures to eliminate food safety risks. In December 2010, after a rigorous & all inclusive audit, the company was awarded HACCP certification through AIB (American Institute of Baking) which further validates the company’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of food safety & product quality. Calise Bakery has also been proactive in the area of allergen control. The number of allergens in the plant has been reduced, and procedures instituted that strictly control residual allergens in products. Our program exceeds state and federal standards for allergen control. Furthermore, there is not any dairy or nuts in our bakery or in our process.

Calise & Sons Bakery places emphasis on continuous employee training, monthly auditing of plant operations, daily monitoring of plant systems and procedures, a comprehensive system that insures the quality of products and ingredients received and microbial, chemical, physical, air quality and allergen residue sampling programs to insure consistent high quality, safe food products.

On June 11, 2002, the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act was passed into law in response to the events of September 11, 2001. Calise & Sons Bakery meets all the criteria required under the Bioterrorism Act in regard to food facility registration, product and process security, physical plant security, record keeping, product tracking and detention and recall procedures which enable the company to quickly and effectively respond in the event of an actual or threatened attack on the U.S. food supply. The company is in the process of further upgrading its security systems and procedures to better protect our product line and customers.

Calise & Sons Bakery is responsive to and involved in the needs of the community through our support of a variety of food banks, food kitchens and various community activities with weekly donations of bread products. Also, as a responsible member of the community, our involvement extends to the environment. We have instituted an extensive and inclusive re-cycling program and re-worked some plant systems to become more environmentally friendly and reducing our “carbon footprint”. A survey by RISD gave accolades to the bakery for having a small environmental footprint for a plant of this size.

Calise & Sons Bakery is licensed and regulated by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration and is inspected by both AIB, & NSF-Cook & Thurber. The company has passed all individual requirements with the highest ratings and passed the most recent FDA inspection with a perfect score. The most recent audit by AIB resulted in a “Superior” rating & Cook & Thurber’s highest rating, “Excellent”.

As Calise and Sons Bakery continues to grow, so will the company’s commitment to food safety and quality.