At their very core, third party audits are meant to ensure companies comply with specific food safety standards, social responsibilities and/or various sustainability practices. Passing certified third party audits can lead to the expedited treatment of imports at ports of entry and greater customer confidence. Mostly, they are mandated by customers and therefore hundreds, if not thousands, of third party audits based on dozens of audit schemes, are conducted every week at produce companies.
So, just how many audit schemes are there? You can probably name half a dozen without stopping to breathe, and most companies must comply with at least half that number. In short, the industry faces multiple, redundant audits, which are often not interchangeably acceptable to different buyers. Most buyers only accept the results and certification of certain bodies, thus leading to proliferation of different audits for different buyers.
This lack of harmonization between audit programs can be costly and time consuming. In an effort to address these challenges, the United Fresh Produce Association will bring together representatives from across the trade at the Global Conference on Produce Food Safety Standards on 24-25 April.
Among the participants, the Global Food Safety Initiative, the British Retail Consortium, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), GlobalGAP and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, among other key players from government and the private sector will examine produce food safety audits, auditing systems, and methods of ensuring confidence in produce companies’ compliance with food safety standards.
The two-day conference, to be held in Las Vegas, follows the United Fresh 2009 trade show and aims to explore the world of pre- and post-farm gate certification and audit programs. During the two-day event key management and food safety staff and representatives from the global supply chain (including wholesalers, foodservice, processors, growers, shippers, packing houses, re-packers, audit companies, accreditation firms, regulatory agencies), and other stakeholders will learn about the United Fresh Audits Benchmarking initiative.
This project offers a comparison of the major audit and certification programs available to the produce industry on the basis of the audit standards or checklist, auditor selection and credentials, audit report quality assurance, dispute resolution, cost structure and other features important in the selection of a third party program.
Taken from the February/March 2009 edition of Americafruit Magazine
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