The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Board of Directors announced the formation of its newest Working Group. The GFSI Food Broker/Agents Technical Working Group will review the role of Food Brokers and Agents in the food supply chain. The group will subsequently draft key elements for inclusion in the GFSI Guidance Document, so that existing food safety management schemes that cover this scope can be benchmarked against them, GFSI said.
The Food Broker/Agents Technical Working Group will have a broad mandate to:
- Review current best food safety practice in relation to Food Broker/Agents.
- Define and develop the scope(s) of recognition in relation to Food Broker/Agents and the key elements that shall be in place for the recognition of food safety requirements for Food Broker/Agents by GFSI in the GFSI Guidance Document.
- Review and define the competence of auditors required to be in place for schemes applying to the GFSI for recognition within the scope(s) of Food Broker/Agents.
- Review and define the duration of audits in relation to the Food Broker/Agents scope(s) of recognition.
- Provide technical recommendations and advice to the GFSI Board on issues relating to Food Broker/Agents in the food supply chain.
- The ultimate objective of this Working Group is to define the fundamental key criteria that a food safety management scheme covering the scope or Food Broker/Agents should have in place in order to ensure confidence in sourcing from a company certified against that scheme.
Ciaran Conway, Associate Director Global Quality Auditing at Mondelez International, Germany and Chair of the Working Group welcomed the GFSI Board’s decision to prioritise the formation of this Working Group and said “Food Brokers play a key role in Mondelez’s global supply chains. Part of our strategy is to request that our suppliers and collaborators be certified against GFSI recognised schemes, and currently this has not been possible for this scope as no requirements existed within GFSI’s Guidance Document. I look forward to working with the other experts in this Working Group* to make this happen”.
The Working Group will hold its first face-to-face meeting on 16th and 17th July and will report on its progress to the GFSI Board of Directors, who is responsible for driving the strategic direction of the Global Food Safety Initiative. A global stakeholder consultation on the key elements developed by the Working Group is currently planned for the end of 2013 to ensure transparency in the development process.
Peter Begg, Senior Director, Global Quality Programs at Mondelez International and GFSI Board Liaison to the Working Group commented that “one of the key pillars of the GFSI Board’s strategy is to build confidence in third party certification. GFSI’s sector-specific Working Groups play a role in fulfilling this mandate as they define key requirements across the different parts of the supply chain. The Food Broker/Agents scope has never been covered by the GFSI Guidance Document, and in doing so we will be able to drive harmonisation in existing food safety management schemes that cover this scope of activity to ensure confidence in sourcing”.