Cognizant Helps Feihe International Enhance Food Safety Capabilities

SHANGHAI, July 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Deployment of an Integrated Food Safety Solution Enables Feihe International to Improve Quality and Increase Customer Confidence

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH), a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, today announced the successful deployment of an integrated food safety solution at Feihe International, Inc. (NYSE: ADY), formerly known as American Dairy, Inc., one of the leading producers and distributors of premium infant formula, milk powder, and soybean, rice and walnut products in China.

This innovative end-to-end solution was developed by Cognizant in collaboration with Heilongjiang LiGao High-Tech Development Co. Ltd., a high-technology services company, and FoodlogiQ, a leading provider of traceability, food safety, and sustainability software. The solution enables Feihe International to trace foods, feeds, ingredients, and food-producing animals through all stages of production, processing, and distribution.

The enhanced traceability across farmers, producers, processors, and retailers provides for significantly superior quality and safety tracking, compliance monitoring, and issue resolution, which are critical focus areas for the food and beverage (F&B) industry in today's globalized manufacturing environment. The solution also provides operational efficiencies by minimizing costs associated with conducting recalls or withdrawals, and improves stock and distribution control while aiding in the removal of unsafe food from the marketplace.

"Inspiring food safety confidence among consumers has become a business imperative for food companies," said Xiao Guanghui, Vice President and General Manager of the Production Division at Feihe International, Inc. "We are committed to doing all it takes to address consumer concerns and meet regulatory requirements around food safety in the most accountable and transparent manner. We are pleased with the successful implementation of a state-of-the-art food safety traceability system developed by Cognizant in collaboration with Ligao and FoodlogiQ. It will help us align our advanced production technology with the highest standards of quality and safety throughout the supply chain, ranging from raw material to production processes and distribution, enabling our consumers to trace any finished product back to its source conveniently and accurately, and buy our products with greater confidence. We look forward to integrating this unique solution with our enterprise-level systems."

"Food safety crisis is a crisis of confidence, which is leading to distrust in the food safety and quality assurance system," said Wang Xinxiang, Chairman of Heilongjiang LiGao High-Tech Development Co. Ltd. "At present, consumers distrust the food safety assurance system because there is no way for them to know about this system and supervise food safety. Therefore, to solve food safety issue, the food trust system must be re-established. Three years ago, our company began to study the best practices of the operational and food safety system in the dairy industry. Feihe International's food safety project is among the first traceability projects covering the whole industry chain, relying on the advanced technologies and experience of a global company such as Cognizant in the fields of dairy operation management, plant MES, food safety, and traceability system. This project not only helps consumers purchase safe products but also provides an independent food safety platform for regulating the dairy production management."

"We are delighted to help Feihe International strengthen its capability to provide safe and higher quality products," said Mahesh Venkateswaran, Senior Vice President and Head of Engineering and Manufacturing Solutions Practice, Cognizant. "Ensuring food safety and regulatory compliance in the highly competitive dairy industry is a complex process and increasingly crucial to public health and consumer confidence. Our traceability solution will enable Feihe International to trace ingredients as well as track all process steps from farm-to-fridge, and make sure its products are safe, wholesome, and compliant with microbial and compositional requirements. This solution will help Feihe International improve customer confidence, grow sales, and capitalize on market opportunities, thereby reinforcing its leadership position in the Chinese dairy market."

About Feihe International, Inc.

Feihe International, Inc. conducts operations in the People's Republic of China through its wholly owned subsidiary, Feihe Dairy. Founded in 1962, it is one of the leading producers and distributors of premium infant formula, milk powder, soybean, rice cereal and walnut products in China. Feihe Dairy is headquartered in Beijing, China, and has processing and distribution facilities in Kedong, Qiqihaer, Baiquan, Gannan, Longjiang, Shanxi, and Langfang. Using proprietary processing techniques, we make products that are specially formulated for particular ages, dietary needs and health concerns. We have over 200 company-owned milk collection stations, two world class dairy farms, seven state of the art production facilities with an aggregate milk powder production capacity of approximately 1,950 tons per day and an extensive distribution network that reaches over 80,000 retail outlets throughout China. For more information, please visit: http://ady.feihe.com/

About Cognizant's Engineering and Manufacturing Solutions Practice

Cognizant's Engineering and Manufacturing Solutions (EMS) practice addresses the core domains of the manufacturing value chain, from conceptualization and product design, through product manufacturing. EMS consultants help customers bring their products to market faster and realize the benefits of collaborative manufacturing by enhancing and integrating shop-floor, enterprise and product life-cycle systems. EMS's services portfolio is directed at enabling customers to run, grow, and transform their businesses by leveraging competencies and solutions that address clients' engineering and product needs across the "design through production" lifecycle. The Practice offers a broad range of services, from strategic consulting and product engineering, through systems support and maintenance, spanning the automotive, oil and gas, utilities, pharmaceutical, food and beverages, specialty chemicals, consumer electronics, and high-tech industries.  

About Cognizant

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 50 delivery centers worldwide and approximately 111,000 employees as of March 31, 2011, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top-performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at http://www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.  

About Ligao

Heilongjiang LiGao High-Tech Development Co., Ltd. is a provincial innovative and high technology enterprise with six subsidiaries, principally serving China's domestic dairy industry. As food safety is the core element of our strategy, we provide domestic dairy clients with state-of-the-art professional services to achieve operational excellence, such as plant construction and process design, equipment manufacturing and engineering, equipment installation, laboratory instruments and equipment solution, enterprise production consulting, product design and development, personnel training, and so on.  Through combination of IOT (the Internet of Things) technology and automated production technology, we seamlessly integrate the advanced solutions of dairy production management and experience of food safety risk prevention to establish comprehensive dairy food safety solution in terms of equipment, production technology, process control, quality management, etc. The solution ensures reliable mechanism of food safety traceability and quality assurance, and also real-time visibility across entire production and operations control and management. Track and trace traceability solution is the key enabler to ensure product quality and safety of the enterprise's objectives. For more information, please visit: http://www.ligaos.com/  

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions and the factors discussed in our most recent Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cognizant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Cognizant