Apr 20, 2000- Portola Packaging, Inc. was recently awarded McKesson Water Products Company's (MWPC's) Supplier Certification Award for the third consecutive year.

MWPC developed the Supplier Certification program seven years ago to promote continuous improvement in the quality of its suppliers' products and services. The goal of the program is to strengthen partnerships with strategically aligned suppliers who have a critical impact on MWPC operations and customer satisfaction. To date, only six suppliers have achieved and maintained certification.

MWPC rates its suppliers each quarter on a scale from 0-100. To qualify for certification, suppliers must achieve a minimum score of 90 points for four consecutive quarters. Portola's average rating for 1999 was 97.3. The quarterly ratings are based on product quality, supplier plant audits, supplier quality assurance programs, functionality, internal/external customer satisfaction, MWPC plant managers' satisfaction, on-time delivery, non conformance incidents, and supplier safety/environmental conformance. There is a bonus for innovation.

During the award presentation, Wade Utsunomiya, quality assurance manager for MWPC, said, "Portola's dedication to excellence has earned it this award for three consecutive years, which is no easy task, and one of the primary reasons Portola was chosen as Supplier of the Year for 1999." Wade added, "MWPC's relationship with Portola is one of the best supplier partnerships MWPC has and many benefits have resulted for both organizations".

Portola Packaging, with headquarters in San Jose, CA, designs, manufactures, and markets proprietary tamper-evident plastic closures and equipment for the bottled-water, dairy, juice, and food industries.

McKesson Water Products Company (MWPC), which is a division of Danone Group, is based in Pasadena, Calif. MWPC bottles and distributes drinking-water products under the familiar brand names of Sparkletts in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Tijuana, Mexico; Alhambra in Northern California. Sparkletts invites visitors to its Internet site at www.sparkletts.com.

For further information contact:

Portola Packaging, Inc.
890 Faulstich Court
San Jose, CA 95112

TEL: 1 408-441-1958 FAX: 1 408-453-8462