Search
Search
PARIS and SYDNEY, 21 September 2021 — The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), The Consumer Goods Forum’s Coalition of Action on food safety, and Freshcare Limited, the leading assurance programme for the Australian fresh produce industry, are pleased to announce that the Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Standard Edition 4.2 has successfully achieved recognition against GFSI’s Benchmarking Requirements Version 2020.1. The recognition encompasses GFSI scopes BI – farming of plants, and BIII – pre-process handling of plant products.
As custodians of Australia’s most widely used standards, Freshcare CEO Jane Siebum, says the recognition of this standard is a significant accomplishment for the domestic fresh produce industry.
“Our continued benchmark recognition provides validation that our certified growers are demonstrating their food safety systems align with world best practice, strengthening confidence and trust in Freshcare certificates in global supply chains”.
The achievement of global recognition ensures Freshcare remains at the forefront of domestic and international food safety compliance, underpinning confidence in the safety and quality of Australian fresh produce from paddock to plate.
Freshcare continues its rigorous commitment to food safety, which is underpinned by science, supported by training and remains practical and relevant for industry while aligning with global best practice.
Marie-Claude Quentin, GFSI Senior Technical Manager for The Consumer Goods Forum, said, “Version 2020 of the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements is our most stringent version yet, transitioning all the GFSI-recognised CPOs to this latest version is a very significant step towards our objective of maintaining trust in third-party certification for us, our members and an entire community that relies on GFSI-recognised certification to ensure safe food is produced every day. I am delighted to have witnessed Freshcare going through their Benchmarking assessment this year and congratulate them on this positive outcome”.
About the GFSI Benchmarking Process
Benchmarking is a procedure by which a food safety Certification Programme Owner (CPO) is compared to the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements. The process is designed to be executed in an independent, unbiased, technically proficient and transparent manner. A programme is ‘recognised’ by GFSI when it has been verified that it meets every single GFSI benchmarking requirement, both in procedures and in operations. An independent benchmark leader, supported by the GFSI Technical Manager, assesses whether the application meets GFSI requirements, followed by a public consultation period that is open to all GFSI Stakeholders. The benchmark leader and GFSI Technical Manager then make a recommendation to the GFSI Steering Committee regarding recognition of the programme. The full process is defined in the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements document.
— Ends —
About GFSI
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI; the Coalition) is a CEO-led Coalition of Action from The Consumer Goods Forum, bringing together 38 retailers and manufacturers and an extended food safety community to help oversee food safety standards for businesses and help provide access to safe food for people everywhere. As one of the world’s largest networks to help achieve safe food, GFSI is committed to making food safety everyone’s business and the Coalition members are addressing challenges facing food safety systems in their supply chains and the markets they operate in, and are helping to raise the food safety bar globally. Its ambition is to strengthen and harmonise food safety systems so they are able to feed the growing, global population and develop markets that can deliver food safely, no matter where in the world the consumer is. To learn more, visit www.mygfsi.com.
For further information, contact Lee Green, Communications Director, The Consumer Goods Forum: l.green@theconsumergoodsforum.com
About Freshcare
Freshcare is an industry-developed, for purpose organisation, delivering assurance standards for the Australian fresh produce and wine grape industries.
Freshcare’s purpose is to ensure its best-practice standards meet industry needs now, and for the future, to deliver safe, quality, sustainable produce from paddock to plate, for local and global consumers.
For more information visit: www.freshcare.com.au
Media contact: media@freshcare.com.au | P: +61 2 8039 9999
