BY ALLAN DALL CHAIRPERSON, FRESHCARE

The Freshcare Food Safety and Quality — Supply Chain Standard was launched in 2018 to address the challenges of food safety and quality compliance for businesses involved in fresh produce supply chain operations in Australia.

Developed with the support of Fresh Markets Australia (FMA), the Freshcare Supply Chain Standard provides certification options for fresh produce supply chain businesses involved in packing (including pre-pack/re-pack); storage; ripening; transport and distribution; wholesale; brokerage; virtual brokerage and provedores.

Throughout this year, the Standard has been undergoing review and benchmarking to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) to gain international recognition against the global benchmark model for best practice in food safety systems.

Freshcare Chairperson Allan Dall said that demonstrating compliance to food safety is a fundamental requirement for all businesses in the Australian fresh produce supply chain.

“As the custodian of Australia’s most widely used Standards, it is important that the Supply Chain Standard also achieves GFSI benchmark recognition to validate that all of Freshcare’s food safety systems are aligned with world best practice,” Mr Dall said.

An update of the standards will be released mid-2021.

“International recognition also opens doors to market access and therefore provides another boost in confidence for Australian fresh produce in global supply chains,” Mr Dall said.

An update to the Freshcare Food Safety and Quality — Supply Chain Standard will be released mid-2021 as the GFSI benchmark process progresses. Freshcare’s benchmarking progress can be monitored via the GFSI website: www.mygfsi.com.

MORE INFORMATION

If you’re interested in starting the journey to Freshcare certification visit www.freshcare.com.au or contact the Freshcare team on 1300 853 508.