Italian confectioner Maina Panettoni, SA8000 certified by DNV two years ago, has won the prestigious Corporate Conscience Award in the US.

Thanks to its determined search for quality, the small shop in Turin has grown into a modern company that now produces more than 14 million sweets a year. It employs more than three hundred workers and had a turnover of some 42 million euro in 2002. Maina is currently in the final phase of its move to ISO 9001:2000.

The SA 8000 certification has brought results: accidents at work down 23 percent over the past two years, absenteeism down 2 percent and a 27 percent increase in the number of consumers who purchased Maina products more than three times in one year. These results have also encouraged new investments.

DNV nominated Maina for the prestigious award in March on the basis of the company’s constant commitment and attention to its employees’ work conditions and efforts to enhance customer and supplier awareness of social accountability. The award will be presented to Maina this October in New York.

Maina Panettoni S.p.A., founded in 1964, is today one of the most famous confectionery companies in Italy.

“A quality product and quality work have always been Maina’s two supreme goals,” declares Roberto Di Gennaro, Maina’s Quality Manager.