(openPR) - Berlin, 10. February 2011 -- Retailers and producers from around the globe have joined forces to develop GLOBALG.A.P.

GLOBALG.A.P is now the world’s leading harmonized on-farm certification standard, in an initiative to improve consumer confidence in the food they buy. For more than 100,000 farms in over 100 countries, this non-profit industry-owned program has been the preferred choice to demonstrate compliance with food safety, as well as the environmental and social requirements called for by many different markets.

After a period of intensive standard updating and consultation, GLOBALG.A.P is ready to address the challenges ahead. Food Safety and Sustainability are set to be the sector’s major issues for the coming decade.

Most Widely Consulted, Innovative and Science-Based Ever: GLOBALG.A.P Version 4

The changes have been made after an intensive review period and wide consultation on 5 continents. The revised standard, which uses HACCP principles emphasize current best practice in food safety related points but will help producers comply by creating a toolkit to

carry out risk assessments thereby developing the necessary food safety plans.

Various topics (water, manure, soil, adjacent land use, etc) are covered with Good Agricultural Practice and this toolkit will help producers to identify the elements and practices that may pose a risk to food safety.
An Integrated Pest Management Toolkit has also been developed, with lots of examples to cover the three principles (Observation and Monitoring, Prevention and Intervention). IPM is central to a more sustainable method of production and also helps ensure Maximum Residue levels are not exceeded.
GLOBALG.A.P has developed guidelines to help compliance amongst smaller producers as well as a system of group certification which provides a cost effective means of obtaining the certification.

GLOBALG.A.P‘s innovative stakeholder approach means that the standard is tried, tested and truly fit for global produce production and trade .The new version has been refined through nearly 10 years of practical experience and actually consists of fewer control points than the previous version and with many auditors having been trained before the standard implementation date.

TOUR 2011: Going out to every region in the world to share, learn and network

The successful formula for the TOUR 2009 has been expanded to target eight cities around the world for the GLOBALG.A.P TOUR 2011: New Delhi, Mexico City, Cape Town, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Warsaw, Atlanta and Bangkok. Organizing partners from most of the event locations will be present at the News Conference to explain their main TOUR 2011 features. All events will provide training opportunities, a newly organized “Open Consultation Meeting” with no admission fees on the Pre-conference day, and plenty of time to network between the informative and interactive sessions on the main day.

GLOBALG.A.P in the USA

The US Congress has passed the Food Safety Modernization Act, which will lead to increased requirements not only for US producers but also for those exporting to the large US market. Dr. David Gombas, Sr Vice President, Food Safety and Technology, United Fresh, explains the North American approach of their National G.A.Ps Harmonization Initiative and how that can be aligned to GLOBALG.A.P.

On the Way to GLOBALG.A.P for Emerging Markets

Achieving GLOBALG.A.P Certification in one step may be difficult in markets where certification to Good Agricultural Practice is emerging. Marek Marzec, President, EWABIS Group, presents first experience introducing a tailored sub-set of GLOBALG.A.P requirements in Poland, particular for local and national markets as a stepping stone to full GLOBALG.A.P Certification.

GLOBALG.A.P (former EUREPG.A.P) started in 1997 as an initiative by retailers belonging to the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP). British retailers in conjunction with supermarkets in continental Europe were the driving forces. They reacted to growing concerns of the consumers regarding product safety, environmental and labour standards and decided to harmonise their own often very different standards.

The development of common certification standards was also in the interest of producers. Those with contractual relations to several retailers explained that they had to undergo multiple audits against different criteria every year. With this is mind, EUREP started working on harmonised standards and procedures for the development of Good Agricultural Practices (G.A.P.) in conventional agriculture including highlighting the importance of Integrated Crop Management and a responsible approach to worker welfare.

Claudia Meifert

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GLOBALGAP c/o FoodPLUS GmbH, Spichernstr. 55, 50672 Koeln, Germany
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