Making Quality Everyone's Responsibility

Denis Vande Putte is Head of Quality at Beneo, specializing in business risk management within the food industry. With expertise in quality, food safety, regulatory affairs, environment, and crisis management, he ensures compliance, safety, and excellence across global operations and standards.

Key Experiences Shaping Beneo’s Role

My background in process engineering and biochemistry oriented me toward the food industry, particularly primary processing with raw materials straight from the field. I began in Product Development and Technical Sales Support, which exposed me to a wide variety of food processes and technologies. From the start, I encountered strict legal requirements, the constant need for risk management, and the importance of strong process compliance.

Each career step reinforced these themes. I learned to combine technical expertise with a broader awareness of regulatory, customer, and operational perspectives. Over time, I developed the conviction that quality is not a stand-alone function but a dynamic process integrated across the business. My guiding principle has always been that quality should create value—not only by preventing risks but by enabling trust, efficiency, and innovation. This philosophy, shaped by years of hands-on experience, now guides my role at BENEO.

Prioritizing Process Improvements

I start with insights from the floor—operators, engineers, and quality inspectors—who often identify inefficiencies and risks early. This feedback helps me map opportunities and rank them by potential impact.

Compliance always comes first. Once that foundation is secure, I allocate resources to areas where improvements will deliver both reliability and added value, whether through cost efficiency, smoother processes, or stronger customer confidence. Prioritization is not a one-time exercise but a continuous process of dialogue, monitoring, and recalibration.

Making Quality Count for Consumers

We place strong emphasis on continuous dialogue with customers. Proactive technical meetings and audits give us a clear view of evolving expectations. Enhancements are evaluated against nutrition, safety, taste, and consumer benefit.

The best improvements strengthen customer trust while also improving internal efficiency. If both outcomes are achieved, the motivation to implement is clear and lasting. For example, by streamlining some of our compliance checks, we not only reduced internal complexity but also increased the speed at which customers received their products. Such changes reinforce the principle that value must be tangible both inside and outside the company.

Cross-Functional Quality Collaboration

Cross-departmental platforms at BENEO bring together Product and Process Development, Customer Centricity, Operational Excellence, and Compliance. These forums align initiatives and ensure no perspective is missed.

When specific opportunities are identified, we create dedicated working groups. These include experts from R&D, operations, and regulatory affairs to design solutions, establish follow-up tools, and, if required, adapt organizational structures. This collaborative model prevents siloed thinking and ensures improvements are realistic, effective, and fully embedded. The strength of BENEO lies in this collective approach, where quality becomes everyone’s responsibility, not just the remit of one department.

Leading the Way in Food Safety and Quality

Quality on its own achieves little. The real role of a quality department is to act as a connector, linking different services and encouraging collaboration. Leaders must constantly challenge processes, critically assess improvement potential, and invite diverse teams to co-create solutions.

When improvements are shaped collectively, they gain momentum and sustainability. By fostering openness, curiosity, and cooperation, leaders can make continuous improvement part of a company’s DNA—delivering better outcomes for consumers and stronger performance for the business. My advice is simple: never work in isolation. Engage with your people, listen to your customers, and let continuous learning be the engine that drives progress.