PJRFSI Announces GLOBALG.A.P. Certification
Perry Johnson Registrars Food Safety, Inc. (PJRFSI) is pleased to announce plans to launch GLOBALG.A.P certification program before the end of the 3rd quarter of 2014. This is a globally recognized certification program that began as EUREGAP in 1997 to help the supermarkets in Europe to address consumer concerns about the safety of agricultural practices and products. GLOBALG.A.P. is the world’s leading farm assurance program, with over 100 countries following the requirements of Good Agricultural Practices (G.A.P.). It focuses on globally accepted criteria for food safety, sustainable production methods, worker and animal welfare, and the responsible use of resources such as water, compound feed, and plant propagation materials.
There is a wide variety of certification options available through GLOBAL G.A.P., depending on the size and scope of the business. Some of these options can even be customized to the specific needs of customers.
Primary Farm Assurance (PFA), the North American incarnation of the local G.A.P., is an assessment geared toward farms that cater to local and domestic markets as well as introducing food safety processes to farmers who might be new to the ideas and practices. Two different levels of this assessment are available: the foundation level, which focuses more on local markets, and intermediate, which is recognized by some national retailers.
The Produce Safety Standard (PSS) is recognized by more national retailers than PFA and is GFSI recognized. This certification includes produce handling, integrated crop management, integrated pest control, quality management systems, and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). This level is geared toward companies that are interested in being food safety certified for markets in the United States and Canada, but it is possible to upgrade the certificate if additional criteria are required or the producer wishes to export produce outside of the United States.
GRASP
PJRFSI is pleased to offer the GRASP add-on for GLOBALG.A.P.! GRASP (GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice) is a voluntary ready-to-use module intended to assess aspects of worker health, safety, and welfare. Fully complementary to GLOBALG.A.P. Certification towards social aspects, GRASP can be assessed in conjunction with the regular audit, assessing production facilities via PJRFSI.
The GRASP add-on assessment is valid for one year, with assessments conducted annually. Not only does GRASP help establish a good social management system on farms, but with compliance levels visible to industry supply chain partners and buyers via the GLOBALG.A.P. database, it can be an excellent way of demonstrating social responsibility for producers.
To learn more about GRASP or to add it onto your existing GLOBALG.A.P. program, contact PJRFSI!
Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) is the full GLOBALG.A.P. certification program and covers all agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, and horticulture production. This certification also examines other aspects of food production and the supply chain, including chain of custody and compound feed manufacturing. IFA is revised every four years and is currently in its fourth version.
We are excited to take on this project and even more excited to start offering it to our valued clients. For more information on any of the current or future food safety programs offered by PJRFSI, please call us at +44 (0) 1782 366525.
GLOBALG.A.P. offers the “Unannounced Reward Program” for producers who opt to have their annual inspection unannounced. Opting-in for this program offers the benefit of being excluded from the additional 10% unannounced inspections, with producers’ participation noted as an attribute in the GLOBALG.A.P. database. In addition, participating producers are excluded from the off-site module inspection methodology and inspections under the reward system will always been carried out using the entire IFA checklist, according to relevant scopes and sub-scopes. (Please note that if a participating producer requires an audit for an add-on and the rules of said add-on explicitly exclude unannounced add-on assessments, that producer will be unable to participate in the Unannounced Reward Program.
For more information on this offering from GLOBALG.A.P. or to see if your operation may qualify to participate, contact us at +44 (0) 1782 366525.
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