Top 6 Benefits of GLOBALG.A.P. Certification

With the amount of arable land in the world dwindling due to rising population demands, the need for farmers who practice sustainable farming activities is increasing; thus, producers must have easier access to certification to more easily identify those in the market with more responsible farming practices. The Secretariat establishes reference standards for executing safe and responsible actions on farm premises.

The certification seeks to improve food safety standards across the globe, as food supply chains grow and become more complex; it does this by upscaling food safety and worker welfare practices. This not only ensures the health and well-being of the consumers but the producers as well.

GLOBALG.A.P. smart farm assurance solutions cover different topics related to the promotion of sustainable farming practices while issuing steps for raising the quality of farm management.

Any farm regardless of scale or location has access to recognition avenues due to the availability of targeted, cheap, and measured solutions and GLOBALG.A.P.’s focus on capacity-building processes. The focus areas of GLOBALG.A.P. include Food Safety, Environmental Sustainability, Promotion of employee well-being, Animal Welfare, Supply Chain Traceability, and Capacity Building.

We would like to introduce our most popular GLOBALG.A.P. services:

Table of Contents

1. Ensures Food Safety

2. Environmental Sustainability

3. Employee Welfare

4. Animal Welfare

5. Better Traceability Systems

6. Capacity Building

Conclusion

1. Ensures Food Safety

The standards help promote the adoption of processes that decrease impacts on food safety, while the GAP certification advertises the producers’ commitment to responsible food safety practices. The following standards and add-ons address food safety:

IFA for fruit and vegetables
Produce Handling Assurance
Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule

Food safety topics covered:

Hazard detection and mitigation measures.
Residue monitoring.
Traceability – handling, separation, and identification.
Waste management.
Providing irrigation controls.
Handling, packaging, and storage.
Feed for animals (storage, sourcing, and processing).
Food Fraud Plan.

2. Environmental Sustainability

The standards and add-ons available at GLOBALG.A.P. promote the adoption of more responsible farming activities across the world. The standards and add-ons about environmental sustainability include:

IFA for fruit and vegetables
Sustainable Program for Irrigation and Groundwater Use
Impact-Driven Approach to Sustainability Add-on

The following areas are covered by the standards and add-ons:

Ecological and habitat protection, restoration, and restoration.
Efficient water usage.
Waste management and recycling programs to reduce waste and pollution.
Decreasing the utilization of non-renewable fuel and raising levels of energy efficiency.
Adopting Integrated Pest Management practices such as natural crop protection measures.
Using sustainable sources of resources for compound feed and ensuring responsible usage of resources is carried out.
Carrying out Environmental Impact Assessments for farming effluents.
Limiting the spread of disease-causing organisms such as Foc TR4.

3. Employee Welfare

GRASP (GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice) contains a multitude of tools to mitigate social issues presented by the production process. The standards and add-ons associated with this focus area include:

GRASP
IFA for fruit and vegetables
Compound Feed Manufacturing

The subject areas covered by these standards and add-ons are as follows:

Association rights, involve freely being able to join or assemble worker groups.
Workers have the right to be represented, free from management meddling.
Maintaining avenues to present complaints, with confidentiality protection.
Upholding human rights, especially in the prevention of unfair labour practices (such as enforced labour).
Regulations of employment need to be upheld and freely available.
Employment terms and documentation should be clearly stated.
There should be indicators for enforced labour practices, such as legally compliant employment conditions.
Upholding proper age of employment and child employment prohibition.

4. Animal Welfare

Aquaculture is rapidly gaining traction as a method to meet the growing nutritional demands across the globe. Sustainable production practices that account for animal health and welfare help promote global food security.

Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard accounts for a large range of species and production practices, while encompassing all four aspects of the FAO Technical Guidelines on Aquaculture Certification and following the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Aquatic Animal Health Code.

The Global Food Safety Initiative recognises the IFA standard, as does the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) for all aquatic species. The standards and add-ons that pertain to animal welfare include:

IFA for aquaculture
Compound Feed Manufacturing
NON-GM/“Ohne Gentechnik” Add-on.

These standards and add-ons cover the following subject areas:

An aquaculture health plan ratified by a certified veterinarian.
Carrying out aquatic risk assessments, regarding water, predation, disturbances, and markings.
Analysis of measures to maintain livestock health, such as medicines or vaccinations.
All stock movements must be documented throughout their life cycle.
Methods clearly indicating the removal, disposal, stunning, and slaughter of stock.
Training appropriate to the handling of unique species.
Management of sites (e.g. risk assessments on equipment).

5. Better Traceability Systems

Each member of the supply chain must enact traceability systems to identify, record, and verify the history and life cycle of farming outputs at each level of the product’s supply chain. This aids in preventing food fraud while enabling a quick response to food safety issues.

The GLOBALG.A.P. Chain of Custody Standard ensures output integrity up until the final stages of its lifecycle. The requirements reduce risks of substitution, dilution, or misidentification of products at each level of the production and retail/food service section. This ensures customers are safeguarded from reputational risk.

Other standards and add-ons included in this focus area are the:

IFA for Fruit and Vegetables
Compound Feed Manufacturing

The following subject areas are encompassed by the standards and add-ons:

Each product will receive a unique ID number in the GLOBALG.A.P. IT systems to help with identifying them.
Processes related to recall and withdrawal.
Separating products based on their association with certified on uncertified production processes.
Upholding handling regulations.
Verification of inputs and outputs.
Methods to address noncompliance and complaints.
Overseeing subcontractors handling outputs from certified production processes.
Carrying out training of employees.

6. Capacity Building

There are a variety of capacity-building activities on offer by GLOBALG.A.P. which promote the local adoption of sustainable farming activities. These include:

Primary solutions.
GLOBALG.A.P. Academy – offers training courses to farmers and CB’s.
GLOBALG.A.P. Registered Trainer program – offers orientation for farm assurance solutions.
Projects and partnerships.
GLOBALG.A.P. TOUR stops – operate in partnership with stakeholders from host regions to introduce sustainable farming topics specific to the host region.

Conclusion

GlOBALG.A.P. plays an important role in the promotion of sustainable farming practices across the world, by increasing the adherence of local farmers to standards and practices while providing a vital avenue for market access and capacity development through its comprehensive certification system.

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