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Single audit standard on the books Produce industry agrees to harmonized food safety rules. by Richard Lehnert their compliance. Following meetings in Chicago late in P July, United Fresh Produce Association changed the status of the proposed roduce growers are getting closer to being able to follow one standard set of food safety rules and undergo a single auditing procedure that assures harmonized GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards covering farm operations from "draft" to "final." The proposed standards had been on the United Fresh Web site for nearly a year, seeking industry comments. "At our meeting in Chicago, we looked over all the comments," said Dave Gom- bas, senior vice president for food safety and technology. "We made some minor changes and finalized the standards. They are on the Web site, up and ready to be used. We did not finalize the standards for postharvest operations, but we did finalize those for field operations and harvesting." Produce growers have complained for several years about multiple audits. "All our growers do some kind of audit," said Tim Mansfield with Sun Orchard Fruit Company in Burt, New York. "It's something we have to do to gain access to a market. Our growers can meet standards, but the problem is the number of standards and the number of audits. We would like to be able to do one audit once a year and be done with it." There are nearly 15 different auditing standards in operation in the United States, including such names as Food Processors Association's FPA-SAFE, SQF, the USA GMP/GAP, GlobalGAP, NSF Davis Fresh, NCSI Americas, PrimusLabs, GFSI, Tesco Nature's Choice, AIB, and BRC. "We don't want to overpromise," Gom- bas said. "But now we have one food safety standard that will fit the entire United States." Most auditing systems in the United States, except Primus Labs, agreed to par- ticipate in the harmonized standard, he said. GlobalGAP is also not fully in. "We have been working very closely with GlobalGAP and are very close to agreement on all the food safety aspects, but GlobalGAP contains social responsi- bility factors that go beyond food safety," he said. "GlobalGAP is creating a subset of those to separate food safety from the other factors. The goal is to have social accountability become a 'rider,' an add- on to the food safety parts of the Global- GAP audit." GlobalGAP North America President Kristian Moeller confirmed that the har- monized checklist and a single audit will meet GlobalGAP food safety standards. Demand driven How will this work? How can fruit growers be sure you have not merely cre- ated one more food safety standard? Good Fruit Grower asked Gombas these questions. In reviewing the history, he noted, it was food buyers—not growers or the gov- ernment—who demanded that food providers—growers, packing houses, shippers, etc.—use Good Agricultural Practices in growing produce and Good Handling Practices in processing and packing it. These buyers forced the development of standards, creating the need for auditors to enforce them. USDA, for example, responded by developing a set of standards and an auditing checklist, but these were not "government standards" imposed on growers. It was a service to growers pro- vided by the government, for a fee. All auditing systems require growers and packers to pay for the costs of auditing. "The standards were 95 percent the same," Gombas said. Still, growers want- ing access to a market had to comply with the auditing standards specific to a buyer. "Buyers make the decision of the system they will use," Gombas said. Very important in this process was get- ting buyers to come together to agree to a single, harmonized standard, Gombas said. Three technical committees were established under the United Fresh 6 SEPTEMBER 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com