GLOBAL – The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is opening a new stakeholder consultation for GLOBALG.A.P. (Good Agricultural Practices) Integrated Farm Assurance standards (IFA) version 5.4-GFS for Fruits & Vegetable, and Aquaculture, representing one of the final stages in the benchmarking process against the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements Version 2020.1.
GLOBALG. A.P. refers to an internationally accepted set of farm standards and is recognized in more than 100 countries and by GFSI.
This important step of the GFSI Benchmarking Process ensures its transparency and robustness, inviting interested stakeholders to review and comment on the assessment carried out by GFSI and their independent Benchmark Leaders.
The GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance standards Standard covers the certification of the whole agricultural production process of the product from before the plant is in the ground, to non-processed product, no processing or manufacturing is covered, except for the first level in Aquaculture.
It offers several benefits to producers including reducing food safety risks in primary production by encouraging the development and adoption of national and regional farm assurance schemes, and with a clear risk assessed HACCP based reference standard serving the consumer and food chain. It also serves as technical communication platform for continuous improvement and transparency through consultation across the entire food chain.
In addition, it reduces the cost of compliance by avoiding multiple product audits on mixed farming enterprises by a single “one-stop-shop”, avoiding excess regulators burden by pro-active adoption by industry and by achieving global harmonization, leading to a more level playing field.
IFA further increases the integrity of farm assurance schemes worldwide, by defining and enforcing a common level of auditor competence, verification status, reporting and harmonizing interpretation of compliance criteria.
It complements FoodPLUS GmbH, who owns GLOBALG.A.P., and their previous track record in achieving recognition, as they have maintained GFSI recognition for many years with several of their certification programmes having been recognized previously.
GFSI has lauded the organization for their continued commitment to helping to raise the bar on food safety.
Global Red Meat Standard
The GFSI and Danish Agriculture & Food Council have also announced that its Global Read Meat Standard (GRMS), a product standard developed for the meat industry, has successfully achieved recognition against GFSI’s Benchmarking Requirements Version 2020.1.
The recognition encompasses animal slaughtering and meat processing – C0 and C1 of the GFSI benchmarking scopes.
“The GFSI benchmarking process is an excellent tool for maintaining and improving a certification programme. The GFSI recognition is of great value to meat companies with a GRMS certification."
Elisa Carlucci, GFSI Technical Coordinator said, it’s critical that organizations continue to help raise the food safety bar and commended the council for once again proving their commitment to excellence.
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