History of Freshcare
Like so many of Australia’s fresh produce industry success stories, the Freshcare Program had humble beginnings.
Freshcare is the name for the horticultural industry owned, not-for-profit, on-farm assurance program, established in the year 2000 to service the needs of the Australian industry.
Freshcare’s practical approach to helping growers and packers assure customers that their produce is fresh and safe has seen over 7,500 horticultural businesses adopt the program since its beginning.
The foundation of the Freshcare Program has always been the user-friendly Codes of Practice and training support materials. Already Australia’s largest on-farm assurance program, new developments in 2015 and beyond will ensure it continues to grow.
The 90’s – Approved Supplier Guide
January 1, 1995In response, a National Quality Management Working Group was established in 1998 by the Horticultural Research and Development Corporation (HRDC, now Horticulture Australia Limited, HAL) and the working group was given the task of sorting…
Read moreThe 90’s – Freshcare Development
July 1, 1998Freshcare was the natural successor to the many “Approved Supplier Programs” that were developed in the 1990s. At this time many customers such as retailers, wholesalers and processors began implementing HACCP, SQF2000, WVQMS or ISO9002…
Read more2000 – Freshcare Establishment
January 1, 2000Freshcare Ltd was established as a not-for-profit industry organisation to drive the development of the new auditable code of practice and to manage the program. Peak industry bodies representing growers and wholesalers became the ‘owner…
Read more2000 – Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Code – 1st Edition
July 1, 2000To ensure the 1st Edition of the Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Code of Practice was appropriate and achievable, it was widely distributed in draft form for review by industry stakeholders (growers, packers, wholesalers, processors…
Read more2004 – Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Code – 2nd Edition
January 1, 2004By 2004 nearly 3000 growers had joined the Freshcare program. The Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Code of Practice was revised in 2004 and the 2nd Edition incorporated feedback accumulated from the first four years’…
Read more2004 – Freshcare Environmental Code Development
February 2, 2004Around the same time as Food Safety & Quality 2nd Edition Code was released in 2004, Horticulture Australia Limited (now Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA)) initiated the “Horticulture for Tomorrow” program to identify strategic environmental issues…
Read more2006 – Freshcare Environmental Code – 1st Edition
January 1, 2006Publication of the Guidelines for Environmental Assurance in Australian Horticulture in April 2006 was closely followed by the publication of the ‘Freshcare Code of Practice Environmental, 1st Edition August 2006’. The Freshcare ‘Environmental Code’ has…
Read more2008 – Freshcare Food Safety and Quality Code – 3rd Edition
January 1, 2008By the time of the 2008 review of the Food Safety and Quality Code, a number of domestic and international food safety outbreaks in fresh produce had raised the stakes for consumer and customer assurance….
Read more2009 – Freshcare Environmental for the Australian Wine Industry
January 1, 2009In early 2009, the Winemakers Federation of Australia (WFA) approached Freshcare as it was looking for an environmental system applicable to industry that could underpin the Australian Wine Industry’s national environmental membership program Entwine Australia….
Read more2011 – Freshcare Environmental – 2nd Edition
April 1, 2011The Freshcare Environmental 2nd Edition Code of Practice was launched in April 2011 after an extensive twelve month review in consultation with Freshcare growers, trainers, auditors, and broader industry stakeholders. The upgrade to the content…
Read more2014 – Fresh Produce Safety Centre
January 1, 2014Fresh Produce Safety Centre The Fresh Produce Safety Centre Ltd (FPSC) has been established by the Produce Marketing Association Australia-New Zealand (PMA A-NZ) through a project with the University of Sydney. This project is funded by…
Read more2014 – Freshcare Food Safety and Quality Code review
July 1, 2014In order for the Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Code to maintain its position as a widely accepted on-farm certification, a regular code review process is required. The Freshcare Food Safety & Quality 3rd Edition…
Read more2014 – Guidelines for Environmental Assurance – Second Edition
August 14, 2014The second edition Guidelines for Environmental Assurance Guidelines funded by HIA (previously HAL) through its across-industry program, were launched in June 2014, following an extensive review and consultation process with key industry stakeholders, including Freshcare….
Read more2014 – Freshcare Online Training Development
December 1, 2014Consultation with industry throughout 2014, determined that a practical, user friendly, remote-learning option would be a key component of future Freshcare training. Following a lengthy selection process the team at Arris Pty Ltd were chosen…
Read more2015 – Freshcare Forum
April 23, 2015Amidst a week of the wildest weather Sydney has seen in decades, 95 industry stakeholders, including primary producers, industry representatives, trainers, auditors, retailers, wholesalers, research institutions and government organisations, attended the Freshcare Forum at Coogee…
Read more2015 – Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety
September 1, 2015The Fresh Produce Safety Centre launched the Guidelines for On-Farm Food Safety for Fresh Produce in September 2015. First published in 2001 and revised in 2004, the Guidelines historically provided an important resource for Freshcare…
Read more2015 – Code Reviews in Progress
November 2, 2015Works in progress… Freshcare Food Safety and Quality – 4th Edition The Food Safety & Quality 3rd Edition Code is under review in 2015 and will be finalised following the release of the Guidelines for Fresh…
Read more2016 – JAS-ANZ Accreditation
February 1, 2016In February 2016, the Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Standard was approved as an accredited standard by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ). This change from a private industry scheme, to…
Read more2016 – New Codes Launched – FSQ4 & ENV3
June 1, 2016When the Freshcare Food Safety & Quality and Environmental Code reviews were initiated in 2014, the intention was to simply update content in response to participant and stakeholder feedback to create more practical, streamlined standards….
Read more2017 – Freshcare eLearning
April 26, 2017The development of the Freshcare eLearning platform now provides remote access to training for growers who are unable to participate in group or one-on-one training with a Freshcare trainer; or for those that who would prefer…
Read more2018 – Freshcare Supply Chain Standard – Edition 1
July 1, 2018Freshcare released the JAS-ANZ accredited Freshcare Food Safety & Quality – Supply Chain Standard Edition 1 In response to industry and market requests, the Freshcare Food Safety & Quality – Supply Chain Standard Edition 1 (SC1) was developed to address…
Read more2019 – Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety
June 1, 2019The Fresh Produce Safety Centre launched the Guidelines for On-Farm Food Safety for Fresh Produce in June 2019. First published in 2001 and revised in 2004 and 2015, the Guidelines historically provided an important resource…
Read more2019 – FSQ 4.1 Release
July 1, 2019Freshcare Released The Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Standard – Edition 4.1 The updates to the FSQ4.1 Standard ensure Freshcare certification is compliant with the benchmarks set by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). Download…
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