GlobalG.A.P. Certification

What is GlobalG.A.P. Certification?

It is an internationally recognized set of farm standards dedicated to Good Agricultural Practices (G.A.P). Certification to GLOBALG.A.P. is mandatory for farms growing produce for export to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Through certification, producers demonstrate their adherence to GLOBALG.A.P. Standards.

• For Consumers and Retailers – This certificate ensures that food reaches levels of safety and quality and has been produced sustainability, respecting the health, safety, and welfare of workers, the environment, and in consideration of animal welfare issues. Without such reassurance, they may be denied access to markets.

GlobalG.A.P. Covers:

• Food Safety and Traceability.
• Environment (Including Biodiversity).
• Workers’ health, safety, and welfare.
• Animal Welfare.
• Includes Integrated Crop Management (ICM), Integrated Pest Control (IPS), Quality Management System (QMS), and Hazard Analysis and Critical Points (HACCP).

What are the Benefits of GLOBALG.A.P. Certification?

• Reduce your exposure to food safety and product safety reputational risks.
• Gain access to local and global markets, suppliers, and retailers.
• Improve the efficiency of your farm management.
• Save costs by reducing the number of on-farm audits.
• Comply with legislation on food safety, environmental protection, and workers’ health and safety, with an easy HACCP system to implement.
• Benefit from global recognition with adaptation to local conditions through GLOBALG.A.P.s network of 48 National Technical Working Groups.
• Choose from 145 accredited certification bodies, which all meet the highest integrity requirements.
• Access all the standard documents online, free of charge, and in multiple languages.
• Secure access to financing and capital markets. Benefit from connecting to innovative supply chain solutions.
• Help shape the continuing development of our standards through public consultation.
• Demonstrate compliance with the United Nations Global Compact Food and Agribusiness Principles.
• Benchmark yourself as part of the world’s most widespread farm assurance standard.
• It is designed for retailers, manufacturers, and producers with G.A.P. expertise who worked together to create it.

Who needs to be certified with GLOBALG.A.P. Certification?

It is becoming a compulsory standard. Most retailers now require it to prove good agricultural/fish farming practices.

• Producers of crops and farmers raising animals or fish to produce food for human consumption need this certification. Without it, their products cannot be stocked by those retailers.
• Increasingly, exporters to Europe and other market areas (Asia and America) also need to comply with the production standards determined by the GLOBALG.A.P. certification scheme.

What are the requirements of GLOBALG.A.P. Certification?

 1). Legality, Administration, and Structure

The applicant (producer group or company):

• Must be a legal entity – Agricultural Production and trading, and legally contract with and represent the group members and production sites.
• A legal entity that manages the Q.M.S. becomes the sole holder of this certification.
• Members of a producer group are not legal certificate holders.
• Contracts for Producer Groups – Written contracts in force between each producer member and the legal entity.
• Producer and Site Internal Register – Maintain a group member producers register and all applicable sites’ details: products, status, growing area, inspection date, results, etc.

2). Management and Organization

• Competency and Training of Staff – Documented Competency requirements for key staff.
• Records of Qualifications and Training – Key staff informed and updated regarding development issues and relevant legislative changes.

Introduction and annual refreshment training for key staff:

• Document Control
• Control of relevant documents and records
• Quality Manual
• Operating Procedures
• Work Instructions
• Recording Forms
• Relevant External docs (GG Standard, Legislation)
• Records – Kept for a minimum of 2 years
• Online or electronic documents are valid.

3). Complaint Handling

• Document Procedure – How complaints are received, registered, identified, investigated, followed up, and reviewed.
• Must be available for customers.
• Covers complaints against the applicant well as individual procedures or sites.

4). Internal Q.M.S. Audit

• M.S. must be audited at least annually.
• Completed Q.M.S. Checklist with comments.
• Every Q.M.S. control point must be available for review by the auditor during the external audit.

5). Internal Producer and Production Site Inspections

• Inspections for each registered producer annually.
• New member’s/production sites are internally inspected before registration.
• The internal auditor reviews the report.
• Internal inspections and audits approved by C.B. Inspection.

The Inspection report must contain:

• Identification of producer and production sites(s).
• Signature of the registered producer/production site responsible.
• Date and Duration of the inspection.
• Inspector name.
• Registered Products.
• Evaluation result against each GLOBAL G.A.P. control point.

6). Non-Compliances, Corrective Actions, and Sanctions

• Documented Procedures – for identifying and evaluating NCs and handling corrective actions.
• Corrective actions shall be evaluated and a timescale defined for action.
• No time is given for compliance where a severe threat to the safety of people, the environment, and consumers is present.
• Responsibility defined.
• Closure of NCs shall be recorded.
• Suspensions or cancellations of registered procedures/production sites shall be immediately notified to the CB.

7). Product Traceability and Segregation

• Documented Procedure – Identification of registered products.
• Traceability of all products.
• Mass Balance exercise per product.
• GLOBALG.A.P. Number (G.G.N.) It cannot be used to label non-certified products.
• Final documented check to ensure correct product dispatch.

8). Withdrawal of Product

• Documented Procedures to manage the withdrawal of registered products.
• The procedure must be capable of being operated on at any time.
• The system must be tested annually to ensure that it is practical and can be at the QMS level.
• Individual producer members must know the procedure and have it available.

9). Subcontractors

• Procedures and records shall be maintained to demonstrate that the competency of any subcontractor is assessed and meets the standard’s requirements.
• As specific in-service agreements or controls.

10). Registration of Additional producers or Production Sites to the Certificate

• Internal Approval Procedures: May add new producers and sites to a certificate.
• This may add up to 10% of new producers/sites without external CB inspections.
• If more than 10% of new producers/Sites are added.
• External inspections minimum square root of new producers/sites are added.
• External inspections minimum square root of new producers/sites.
• Optional QMS audit.
• Conducted before adding producers/sites to be approved list.

11). Internal Auditor and Inspector Qualifications and Responsibilities

• Internal Auditor Task – Auditing the QMS of the producer group or multisite.
• Approval of the member/production sites based on inspection reports.
• Internal Auditor Qualifications – Practical knowledge of QMS + Internal auditor training course (min. 16 hours).
• Training in HACCP and Food Hygiene.
• Plant Protection, fertilizer, and IPM training.

In addition, to the GLOBALG.A.P. Certification audit TUV Austria BIC. also offers a range of complimentary services:

• ISO Certifications
• ISO 9001 – Quality Management System
• ISO 14001 – Environmental Management System
• ISO 45001 – Occupational Health & Safety Management System
• ISO 50001 – Energy Management System
• ISO 27001 – Information Security Management System
• ISO 20000 – IT Service Management System
• ISO 22000 – Food Safety Management System
• FSSC 22000 – Food Safety System Certification
• HACCP – Food Safety Management System
• ISO 21001 – Educational Organizations Management System
• ISO 29990 – Learning Services Management System
• ISO 20121 – Sustainability Event Management System
• ISO 22301 – Business Continuity Management System
• ISO 37001 – Anti-Bribery Management System
• ISO 28000 – Supply Chain Security Management System
• ISO 13485 – Quality Management Systems for Medical Devices
• ISO 39001 – Road Traffic Safety Management System
• ISO 31000 – Risk Management – Guidelines
• ISO 22716 – Good Manufacturing Practices for Cosmetics
• ISO 3834 – Quality Requirements for Fusion Welding of Metallic Materials
• Halal Certification
• “Covid-Shield” Certification
• IFS Certification Services

FAQ’s

What are the costs of GLOBALG.A.P. Certification?

Each farm is unique, so depending on its specific situation, your farm may need to implement new policies, processes, and installations to comply with a specific standard.

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