USDA AMS Harmonised GAP Plus+, V3.0 Achieves Technical Equivalence

Paris and Washington, DC,  24 October 2022 – The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), The Consumer Goods Forum’s Coalition of Action on food safety, and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), are pleased to announce that USDA Harmonised GAP Plus+, Version 3.0 standard (published 8 February 2021) has successfully achieved Technical Equivalence acknowledgement against GFSI benchmarking Requirements v2020.

The acknowledgement encompasses GFSI scopes: BI Farming of Plants (other than grains and pulses) and BIII Pre-Process Handling of Plant Products

“USDA is pleased that our Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Plus+ audit program for specialty crops continues to meet the highest international and national regulatory and market requirements,” said, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “This acknowledgement by GFSI confirms USDA’s Harmonized GAP program is ensuring the U.S. specialty crop sector is delivering safe products to consumers everywhere.”

Lalaina Randriamanantsoa, GFSI Senior Technical Manager said, “We are delighted with the positive outcome of the Benchmarking of the USDA Harmonised GAP Plus V.3 standard against GFSI Benchmarking requirements v2020. The acknowledgment of this standard for GFSI Technical Equivalence demonstrates, once again the continued effort of the USDA team to align with GFSI requirements for standards that encompasses food safety management. Congratulations to the team!”

About Technical Equivalence
Technical Equivalence is a category of GFSI benchmarking process dedicated to government-owned standards. It acknowledges the equivalence of the standard’s content to the relevant scope(s) of the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements Part III. Unlike GFSI recognition, Technical Equivalence does not include the assessment of the programme’s governance and operational management. The Technical Equivalence process is detailed in the Technical Equivalence Requirements.

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About the Global Food Safety Initiative
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI; the Coalition) is a CEO-led Coalition of Action from The Consumer Goods Forum, bringing together 42 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 Sarah Ménigault, Communications Officer, The Consumer Goods Forum: s.menigault@theconsumergoodsforum.com 

About USDA AMS
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) administers programs that create domestic and international marketing opportunities for U.S. producers of food, fiber, and specialty crops. AMS also provides the agriculture industry with valuable services to ensure the quality and availability of wholesome food for consumers across the country and around the world.