GlobalG.A.P. has celebrated the fifth World Food Safety Day, a call to action by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). World Food Safety Day highlights several areas of food safety including foodborne risks, food security, health, economic prosperity, sustainable development, and agriculture.
This year’s campaign – Food standards save lives – specifically draws attention to the significance of food standards in ensuring food safety and quality. The WHO and FAO have underscored the fact that food safety benefits not only consumers but also producers and global economies by boosting consumer confidence in products on the market. Playing a key role in the food safety sector, GLOBALG.A.P. offers industry-leading, cost-effective, and value-adding assurance and benchmarking solutions which have been continuously developed through extensive collaboration with stakeholders across the value chain over the last 25 years.
The flagship Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard takes a holistic approach to the responsible farming of crops and aquaculture with food safety at the heart of the standard requirements. In fact, 22% of the requirements in IFA v6 for fruit and vegetables (Smart edition), the most recent version of the standard, are solely dedicated to food safety.
With global warming becoming an increasingly serious environmental concern, the FAO reports that rising temperatures can increase food- and waterborne diseases, spread fungal infections in plants, drive plant pests into new areas (potentially leading to pesticide overuse),and increase the spread of harmful algae thereby affecting seafood safety.
IFA helps fight these effects by promoting the protection of food and water sources and the monitoring of products to prevent pests and diseases. The new requirement for continuous improvement plan under IFA v6 also encourages measurable target setting to strengthen environmental sustainability on farms.
The GlobalG.A.P. Chain of Custody standard also contributes to food safety by mitigating the risk of food fraud and providing supply chain transparency through strict requirements for the proper segregation, handling, and tracing of food products, from farms to retailers.
For more information:
Katja Wegerich
GLOBALG.A.P. c/o FoodPLUS GmbH
wegerich@globalgap.org
Leonie Fischer
fischer@globalgap.org
www.globalgap.org