Food Safety Basics
Markets and the Federal Government are requesting agriculture suppliers to provide more tangible, transparent, and effective food and production base safeguards and protocols to ensure product quality and safety.
In fact, nowadays, many of the larger grocery chains, Federal Institutions and produce markets won’t or are reluctant to accept product from suppliers without some form of a food safety program and proof of certification from either an independent third-party verifier or certification body.
Most food-safety certification bodies and third party verifiers provide a range of services, documents, and advice. When developing a food-safety protocol and completing a certification process or audit, it’s important for producers to:
Neglecting these steps can be costly and a waste of resources.
Most certifications or audits and market requirements cover Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), sanitation, hygiene, food security, pest management, and environmental topics.
However, agriculture suppliers may find that different markets require these topics and more. To insure all necessary requirements are met, it is advisable to have documentation from the customers or packinghouses outlining specific requirements.
Perhaps, one of the greatest challenges for agricultural suppliers is meeting different buyers’ food safety requirements with a single food safety program and managing the various audits requested by customers. Without a standardized audit or certification process, suppliers may suffer “Audit Fatigue,” from having to devote effort and resources to multiple audits to satisfy the food safety requirements of multiple buyers.
Food safety is a reality everyone in the business of growing or selling food and food products must contend with these days. In the coming months and years developing and implementing an effective food safety plan will simply become a cost of doing business the same way that tracking pesticide applications and complying with pesticide application laws is now a reality. We can help, contact us for more information
Typically the process of obtaining food safety certification goes on as follows:
1. Developing your program and policies.
Develop you own (E.G. GRAS2P www.gras2p.com) or provided by packing house or coop. This program is typically a booklet of policies, procedures, and documentation forms. A food safety program must be comprehensive and cover worker hygiene, worker safety, trainings, production inputs (such as water, fertilizers and esticides), equipment, traceability, environmental risks, wildlife and more.
2. Implementation
Once the booklet is developed, the policies and producers will have instruction regarding How, What, Where, and When to implement the trainings, documentation, calibration, etc. This is typically completed by the grower with the help of an independent third party such as Goplen Ag Services or Apple Leaf LLC. So you know, implementation is always tough in the first year.
3. Audit
Packinghouse, Third Party Certification, or the Certification Body works with you to have an inspector audit your facility.
4. Certification processing
Once the audit is complete a report is sent to the Certification Body to review the audit. Certification results are issued typically within a month of the inspection.
Whether it is to help develop a food safety program, revamp an existing program, completing internal audits, or conduct the actual audits Apple Leaf and Goplen Ag Services is equipped to help you navigate today’s food safety standards and legal regulations regardless of the requirements you are being requested to comply with.
In fact, nowadays, many of the larger grocery chains, Federal Institutions and produce markets won’t or are reluctant to accept product from suppliers without some form of a food safety program and proof of certification from either an independent third-party verifier or certification body.
Most food-safety certification bodies and third party verifiers provide a range of services, documents, and advice. When developing a food-safety protocol and completing a certification process or audit, it’s important for producers to:
- know the certification or audit requirements for a food-safety program;
- fully meet and document or demonstrate that those requirements are regularly met within the supplier’s food safety program;
- know whether the certification satisfies the market’s requirements;
- understand how often an audit of the food safety program is required by their markets; and
- know if their market requires their food safety program to achieve a certain score or level from the audit.
Neglecting these steps can be costly and a waste of resources.
Most certifications or audits and market requirements cover Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), sanitation, hygiene, food security, pest management, and environmental topics.
However, agriculture suppliers may find that different markets require these topics and more. To insure all necessary requirements are met, it is advisable to have documentation from the customers or packinghouses outlining specific requirements.
Perhaps, one of the greatest challenges for agricultural suppliers is meeting different buyers’ food safety requirements with a single food safety program and managing the various audits requested by customers. Without a standardized audit or certification process, suppliers may suffer “Audit Fatigue,” from having to devote effort and resources to multiple audits to satisfy the food safety requirements of multiple buyers.
Food safety is a reality everyone in the business of growing or selling food and food products must contend with these days. In the coming months and years developing and implementing an effective food safety plan will simply become a cost of doing business the same way that tracking pesticide applications and complying with pesticide application laws is now a reality. We can help, contact us for more information
Typically the process of obtaining food safety certification goes on as follows:
1. Developing your program and policies.
Develop you own (E.G. GRAS2P www.gras2p.com) or provided by packing house or coop. This program is typically a booklet of policies, procedures, and documentation forms. A food safety program must be comprehensive and cover worker hygiene, worker safety, trainings, production inputs (such as water, fertilizers and esticides), equipment, traceability, environmental risks, wildlife and more.
2. Implementation
Once the booklet is developed, the policies and producers will have instruction regarding How, What, Where, and When to implement the trainings, documentation, calibration, etc. This is typically completed by the grower with the help of an independent third party such as Goplen Ag Services or Apple Leaf LLC. So you know, implementation is always tough in the first year.
3. Audit
Packinghouse, Third Party Certification, or the Certification Body works with you to have an inspector audit your facility.
4. Certification processing
Once the audit is complete a report is sent to the Certification Body to review the audit. Certification results are issued typically within a month of the inspection.
Whether it is to help develop a food safety program, revamp an existing program, completing internal audits, or conduct the actual audits Apple Leaf and Goplen Ag Services is equipped to help you navigate today’s food safety standards and legal regulations regardless of the requirements you are being requested to comply with.
