GLOBALG.A.P. North America Announces Produce Handling Assurance Standard; Roberta Anderson, Jennie Coleman, and Lianne Zoeteweij Comment
PORTLAND, OR - When it comes to ensuring food safety for shoppers, buyers have a new standard to seek out thanks to GLOBALG.A.P. North America. The company announced that North American retailers looking for packhouse-level food safety certification for its providers in Latin America can rely on its Produce Handling Assurance (PHA) standard.
“We recognize that some buyers prefer a stand-alone food safety certification that addresses HACCP for packing operations,” said Roberta Anderson, President of GLOBALG.A.P. North America. “However, many of the standards out there were designed for more complex postharvest operations that include processing. The GLOBALG.A.P. PHA standard is specifically developed for operations doing packing, cooling, and storage—whether on the farm or at an independent facility. We work closely with sector stakeholders to ensure we are setting robust, yet realistic and cost-efficient standards while still meeting the evolving needs of buyers.”
PHA provides food safety and traceability certification of postharvest activities such as the cooling, packing, handling, and storage of crops for human consumption. It is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and supports compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a release explained.
Additionally, PHA can be combined with GLOBALG.A.P.’s Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) or Harmonized Produce Safety Standard (HPSS) to provide a complete certification option for producers with on-farm packing or other postharvest activities.
Equifruit, one of North America's leading Fairtrade-certified banana importers sourcing from Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Nicaragua, recently worked with Ecuadorian banana grower Asoguabo to be the first operation outside of the U.S. with PHA certification.
“Our company takes pride in being innovators in the marketplace in the banana sector. When we were first approached by a North American retailer about certification at the packhouse level, we were delighted to collaborate with Asoguabo, which is a world leader of Fairtrade banana exports,” said Jennie Coleman, President at Equifruit.
Lianne Zoeteweij, Chief Executive Officer at Asoguabo, also commented.
“Asoguabo already holds GLOBALG.A.P.’s Integrated Farm Assurance certification for the farming operations, so it just made sense to add PHA for the packing facilities,” she said. “GLOBALG.A.P. certification standards are trusted worldwide with a large network of certification bodies that could support us in Latin America.”
A total of 15 Asoguabo packing operations are aiming for certification over the course of the next year.
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