Snow Brand Milk Products Co., which has recently revamped its corporate structure, restated its pledge Wednesday to restore its image by ensuring safety and ethical conduct.

"In order to regain public trust in the industry, our top priority is to work hard (to ensure) product safety, consumers' feeling of security and corporate ethics," company President Tadaaki Konose said in announcing the firm's new corporate mission.

It was the firm's first official statement since spinning off most of its operations, including milk, baby food and pharmaceuticals. It started as a new entity focused on butter, cheese and margarine at the beginning of this month.

The dairy giant's corporate brand was irreparably damaged by a massive case of food poisoning caused by its milk in summer 2000 and a beef mislabeling scam involving its meat unit in January 2002.

To implement the safety and ethics measures, the company said it will install a unique and enhanced quality-control system at its plants and instill an acute sense of responsibility for food-handling among the employees.

Konose said each individual at Snow Brand will renew the company pledge every Jan. 23 and June 27 to ensure they do not forget these incidents.

Under the new business plan, Snow Brand said it will start licensing some of its 1,200 dairy-related patents to outsiders. It hopes the new undertaking will eventually earn it 1 billion yen annually in the near future.

It also said it will strengthen the development and marketing of cheese products.