Aqua Pacific Receives World Top Award For Taste, Quality
Aqua Pacific’s Diamond Award is great news for this Fijian Made product and provides an assurance for consumers worldwide that they are buying an artesian water of the finest taste and quality
Aqua Pacific brand artesian water has received the prestigious Diamond Award from the International Taste and Quality Institute in Brussels.
This is the first time any Pacific water product has won the prestigious Diamond Award. Aqua Pacific was the first brand of Fiji artesian water to submit to the Institute jury and has achieved remarkable success since 2005.
Recognition by the Institute is a major factor in a decision to stock products by the world’s leading tourism and food service operators, and is a major reason for the rapid expansion of the Aqua Pacific brand internationally.
The International Taste and Quality Institute (TTQI) based in Brussels is the world’s leading organisation dedicated to certifying the taste of food and drink products.
The Institute annually conducts testing of a wide range of products used by the international hospitality industries, including water, tea, coffee and other beverages and culinary products such as sauces and taste additives, spices, seasonings and pastry ingredients. The products are blind tasted by a group of Judges made up of leading Sommeliers and Chefs.
These judges, carefully selected by TTQI, have been trained for many years to taste food products. They have exercised their profession in Europe but also, in countries as diversified as Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, North, Central and South America. They are passionate and enthusiastic in their ongoing discovery for new flavours from unknown products wherever the origin may be. Judges are chosen for their extended practice in tasting and are unanimously recognised talents as Chefs or Sommeliers by guides such as Michelin or Gault Millau. They have exceptional expertise in their field and a recognised capacity to describe gustatory features of food and drink products. They also have the ability to suggest potential improvements within the framework of sensory analysis, which is the essence of their profession.
The information supplied by TTQI is appreciated by participating companies in order to study the results from the tests in detail. The graph and reports from the sensory analysis are valuable tools used by the R&D and Quality Control Managers; who are in constant search for independent and documented opinions by taste professionals.
Unique testing for quality and consistency
Aqua Pacific believes that annual taste testing by the group of experts assembled by the Institute assists them to maintain an element of the quality of the brand that cannot be measured by technical or mechanical means.
This is a supplement to all the other quality control tests conducted daily in the production process in the Aqua Pacific production facility in the highlands of Nadi, Fiji.
From the very first day the company was determined that they would do everything necessary to ensure that the beautiful water that was in the deep underground aquifer (aka “Artesian Well”) is delivered to the customer without any changes.
Part of this process is to build the bottling plant directly above the source and as close to it as possible.
Then they created a buffer zone that totally enclosed the plant from any possible source of pollution by purchasing all the surrounding land and making it a natural environment, with no agricultural activity or grazing animals.
The flow of its underground water is a natural stream from the hills of Viti Levu and is protected by ancient Volcanic rock strata. The plant was purpose built, incorporating all the world best practices for such an enterprise. The Artesian water comes from deep underground to the plant through a stainless steel probe driven into the aquifer and feeds through the internal production systems into the bottles without ever being touched by human hands. The water delivered to people all over the world is exactly the same as the water underground in the aquifer. There are a number of monitoring protocols at different points in the process to ensure that there are no issues and Aqua Pacific believe that the Institute programme is one of the best ways of measuring the taste and physical qualities of the water and the consistency of the experience delivered to consumers over a long period time.
It is the ultimate measure of product consistency. The Aqua Pacific plant is certified ISO9001, Quasi, ABWI and HACCP with external Audits to ensure all processes are in place.
In the marketing of artesian water there are several issues that are critical to success. Firstly, the water quality must achieve the standards set for this product category, then the actual production process must meet the standards set by international authorities and the region must be recognised as a reliable producer of artesian water.
But the real test is in the physical delivery of the taste and sensation and the best way to measure this is through the actual drinking by people who are expert in defining taste parameters.
Growing export markets
Aqua Pacific initially launched into the local Fiji market and continued to concentrate on that market for the first five years, but the reputation of the brand grew strongly and the brand was launched in several countries internationally.
From the start of international marketing it was well promoted by the local distributor in markets where a number of famous brands were represented. Following that export success the company visited other markets and found distributors.
Now, as well as Fiji, Aqua Pacific is distributed in markets including USA, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, Australia, Pacific Islands, Hong Kong, Kuwait, UAE and Singapore and everywhere the sales growth is strong and the distribution is expanding.
In the United States, with a distribution center setup in Los Angeles now, the brand has great positioning to enter some large chain accounts in 2018.
The consumer perception of Fiji as a great source of water and Aqua Pacific’s focus on ensuring the quality of the water delivered has been the main driver in the export growth. Government action in ensuring quality of product export is paramount in the growth of any Fijian Made product. Aqua Pacific’s Diamond Award is great news for this Fijian Made product and provides an assurance for consumers worldwide that they are buying an artesian water of the finest taste and quality.
Aqua Pacific is also helping to build the Fijian economy through growing export into a large number of countries internationally.