The international fruit-juice industry has teamed up with GlobalGAP. At a meeting in Cologne last week global juice trade body Sure-Good-Fair International (SGF) announced it will recommend its fruit-processing members buy from GlobalGAP certified producers.

"With the recommendation to our fruit processors to ask GlobalGAP Certification from their fruit suppliers, our industry completes the control chain by integrating the grower," said Peter Michael Funk, general manager of SGF. "As SGF we now offer a total quality programme from tree to bottle."

Dr Kristian Moeller, secretary of GlobalGAP said: "With this cooperation the GlobalGAP standard can also meet the farm assurance needs of a large processing industry. This is a major milestone on the journey towards global harmonisation of farm assurance standards.

“Fruit growers need to meet the requirements of due diligence and good agricultural practice in order to satisfy their customers and to allow final consumers to enjoy good and healthy fruits and fruit based products without regret. This is the common basis of success for fruit growers around the globe as well as for their customers - trade or industry.”

SGF is the association of fruit processors and their customers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and is in charge of a global raw material assurance and control scheme for safeguarding quality, safety, authenticity, traceability and sustainability of semi-finished goods for fruit juices. Its members account for about 90 percent of the European fruit juice market which is worth around €8 billion (£6.4bn).

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