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umbrella in what became the "Produce GAPs Harmonization Initiative." "Many leaders throughout the produce industry have increasingly recognized the cost and inefficiency of multiple stan- dards and audits now being used to meas- ure compliance with Good Agriculture Practices (GAPs)," according to a state- ment on the United Fresh Web site. "Nei- ther produce suppliers nor retailers and foodservice companies are well served when duplicative standards and audits "Neither produce suppliers nor retailers and foodservice companies are well served when duplicative standards and audits raise total supply chain costs without enhancement of overall food safety." —United Fresh Web site raise total supply chain costs without enhancement of overall food safety." United Fresh hosted a conference on food safety standards in June 2009 and formed three committees to create a single, harmonized standard. The steering committee was chaired by a person from Chiquita Fresh Express. The operations committee was chaired by a person from Wegman's. The Technical Working Group was led by a person from McDonald's. The goal was to develop one standard for food safety in field opera- tions and harvesting and one standard for postharvest operations—"one audit by any credible third party, acceptable to all buyers." "The big buyers told us, if you do this, we will come," Gombas said. "We're not done yet," he added. A calibration committee has been set up to "train the trainers." Auditors need to perform an audit to the new checklist, so people need to be trained to train audi- tors. While this process will take some time, Gombas said, some companies have already said they will use the new harmonized standard immediately. Sub- way, the sandwich company, said it will use the new standard now, and Wegman's said it would use it this coming year, Gombas said. USDA has agreed to train auditors to the new checklist. www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER SEPTEMBER 2011 7 Gombas said large and small growers, shippers, packers, distributors, food - service operations, the USDA, auditing companies, and academics participated in the process of creating the standard. This was developed by the stakehold- ers, who signed off on the final version, and Gombas said he has every reason to believe they will use it. Growers who want to see the new harmonized checklist can find it at www.unitedfresh.org. Search for GAPs Harmonization Initiative. •