Quality Management

In September 2002, Belma completed a long Quality Management Program and secured a PGQ certification. This quality program, which was developed in Morocco in January 2002 by the Canadian cooperation agency in collaboration with the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Fisheries, concerned eleven production units of fishery products in the “Souss” (the Agadir region), which is one of the main canning regions in Morocco.

Belma was the first cannery to complete this program and graduated with honors (“Excellent” grade). The company also received other quality certifications:

Raw materials supply

In order to maintain direct control over the quality of the processed fish, Belma never resorts to fish-trade contracts .
The cannery entered into some direct supply agreements with boats from the southern ports of Morocco. As a result the company can define and enforce specifications, which are aimed to deliver a better quality.


Belma is strongly committed to its customers. For example, we provide ice to some ship-owners to increase safety and obtain the best fish quality. The quality of the fish is also controlled at each delivery, thanks to our purchase teams which are operating in several ports of the Kingdom.

The fish canned by Belma is caught along the coasts of the Moroccan Sahara, where the absence of urbanization and industrial plants preserves the waters from any pollution. The Atlantic Ocean’s cold waters deliver fish of a higher nutritional quality.

Respect for Human Resources

- Training
Each year, Belma allocates a sizable share of its payroll to the training of its human resources. Among other issues, quality, hygiene, food standards, seaming, production management and safety are often included in the training programs.

- Employees’ loyalty
Despite the seasonal character of its activity, Belma has sought from the very beginning to develop employees’ loyalty. On this commitment lays the foundation of any long term quality policy.

Environment friendliness

- Wastewater treatment
Belma was a pilot plant for the study of the USAID (US Agency for International Development) and Ramsa (drinking water supplier) wastewater treatment program.

- Energy efficiency
The Belma plant sites were subjected to the GEM project energy management program

The diagnosis of energy consumption (power and fuel) has been realized, leading notably to the adjustment of the furnaces’ burners and to insulation in order to reduce the consumption of fuel oil and air pollution by the emissions of combustion gases and smokes

- Moroccan Center for Clean Production: Belma auditing and monitoring.

In order to introduce and implement the concept of clean production in Morocco, test projects have been conducted in the textile, painting and fishing industries, under the aegis of the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (UNIDO), UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), and with the assistance of a Swiss reference center.

Those test projects’ objectives were to improve the company’s environmental performance, to suppress environmental impact at its source, and to introduce new production techniques.

Belma was audited and is positioning itself to take part in a wastewater treatment pilot project. Following this audit, some practical and immediate measures have been taken to reduce the consumption of water and the discharge of wastewater and salty waters.
Today, this project has been completed and the wastewater treatment is operational