Freshcare Supply Chain Edition 2 Gains GFSI Recognition

Freshcare Supply Chain Edition 2 Gains GFSI Recognition

Paris and Sydney, 18 January 2023 – The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), The Consumer  Goods Forum’s Coalition of Action on food safety, and Freshcare are pleased to announce that Freshcare Supply Chain Edition 2 has successfully achieved recognition against GFSI Benchmarking Requirements v2020. 

The recognition encompasses the following GFSI scopes: 

• BIII Pre-process Handling of plant products 
• FI Retail / Wholesale 
• FII Food Broker / Agent 
• G Provision of Storage and Distribution Services 

Jane Siebum, Freshcare CEO says the recognition of this standard is an important accomplishment for Australia’s horticulture supply chain network.  

“The benchmarking of our Supply Chain standard acknowledges that a critical component of our domestic fresh produce industry already operates at a global standard.  

“This is a great achievement for our domestic supply chain businesses, providing the opportunity to expand into export markets and international trade.  

“Australian produce is already recognised as some of the safest and highest quality globally, Freshcare can now provide further assurance to businesses through the rigorous process of certification from paddock to pallet, to plate.” 

Lalaina Randriamanantsoa, GFSI Senior Technical Manager said, ” I am delighted to welcome the Freshcare Supply Chain Edition 2 as part of the GFSI-recognised certification programmes offering food safety and quality management programmes to a wide range of businesses involved in fresh produce supply chain operations. Congratulations to the team! ” 

About the GFSI Benchmarking Process 

Benchmarking is a procedure by which a food safety certification programme is compared to the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements. The process is designed to be executed in an independent, unbiased, technically proficient and transparent manner. A programme is ‘recognised’ by GFSI when it has been verified that it meets every single GFSI benchmarking requirement, both in procedures and in operations. An independent benchmark leader, supported by the GFSI Technical Manager, assesses whether the application meets GFSI requirements, followed by a public consultation period that is open to all GFSI Stakeholders. The benchmark leader and GFSI Technical Manager then make a recommendation to the GFSI Steering Committee regarding recognition of the programme. The full process is defined in the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements document. 

— Ends — 

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 43 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 Menigault, Communications Officer, The Consumer Goods Forum: [email protected] 

About Freshcare 

Freshcare is an Australian-owned and operated company providing internationally recognised assurance standards for the fresh produce and wine grape industries. Freshcare’s purpose is to ensure our best-practice standards and services meet the industries’ needs now, and for the future. 

Providing assurance that Australian producers and supply chains can demonstrate their capacity to grow, pack, and distribute safe, sustainable, quality produce for customers and consumers worldwide. 

To learn more, visit www.freshcare.com.au  
For Freshcare media inquiries please contact: Sallie Don | [email protected] | +61 408 007 305