BUSINESS freshcare

FSQ5 is an accessible, integrated and user-friendly standard.

Freshcare has launched the Food Safety & Quality Standard Edition 5 (FSQ5). The revised standard is the culmination of a significant review of Freshcare Standards and industry compliance needs over more than 25 years.

Words Freshcare

DESIGNED in consultation with industry and the Technical Steering Committee, and informed by extensive research, FSQ5 responds to the challenges facing Australian producers, including increasing consumer expectations, changing market requirements, biosecurity risks, and the need to reduce compliance duplication and complexity.

FSQ5 is an accessible, integrated and user-friendly standard, shaped through years of listening to and working alongside industry to better understand what businesses need from their assurance programs.

Freshcare CEO, Jane Siebum.

Freshcare’s Standards Review focused on ensuring its assurance program remained relevant and effective, responding to industry needs and guided by evidence, data and research. The review drew on

extensive stakeholder consultation and Standards Review submissions, as well as industry insights from the Reg-Tech Project, delivered in partnership with Hort Innovation.

The project confirmed that growers and supply chain businesses value certification and the confidence it provides, but are finding compliance increasingly complex, with overlapping requirements and multiple programs to manage.

Over the course of the review, Freshcare received more than 180 submissions from growers, certification bodies, industry associations, supply chain stakeholders and technical experts. Their feedback helped shape the new framework for Freshcare Standards and informed every aspect of FSQ5, from its structure

and language through to the introduction of new requirements and the streamlining of existing ones.

The result is a standard designed to reduce duplication, improve usability and support certification across both on-farm and supply chain activities through a single integrated program.
WAG

More information

For more information and to keep up-to-date with transition guides and training, scan the QR code.

edp australia pty ltd

Every packing shed is different. That’s why we create custom layout designs to suit each operation.

Tailored packing lines for delicate fresh produce such as broccoli and other fresh fruit. This system features a gentle bin tipping solution that smoothly feeds produce onto a conveyor, before moving to an ergonomic pack bench where teams can hand-pack into boxes or trays and weigh with precision.