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Seed Sprout Certificates
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Conditions to Reinstate the Temporarily Suspended Seed Sprout Certificates
28 June 2011
GLOBALG.A.P sets out conditions to reinstate the temporarily suspended certificates.
On 13 June, the GLOBALG.A.P Secretariat requested certification bodies to temporarily suspend all seed sprout certificates.
This decision by GLOBALG.A.P was a precautionary measure in accordance with due diligence principles to allow for further investigations to help understand more clearly the cause of the outbreak and determine whether additional controls were necessary.
In order for suspended seed sprout producers to have their certificates re-instated, producers shall complete a risk assessment wherein all the relevant risks mentioned below are addressed. The risk assessment shall be completed according to the general guideline as described in the Annex AF1 and the specific guideline for risk assessment of microbiological contamination (Annex CB1) of the Control Points and Compliance Criteria of the Integrated Farm Assurance Standard V4.
The critical control areas for seed sprout production that must be addressed include not exclusively:
1. Seed quality (free of microbial pathogens of human concern)
2. Handling and storage of seed by sprout producer (including seed treatment)3. Substrate (growing medium, if used) shall be tested
4. Water quality (potable water with necessary tests)
5. Internal segregation measures (e.g. must be implemented during production to guarantee that contamination cannot spread to other parts of the production)6. Hygiene during production process (personal and facility hygiene) and in particular;
7. Post harvest handling and packing.
These objectives shall be achieved and the proof can be delivered in the following ways:
? The producer carries out the required risk assessments for the above points 1 to 7 and demonstrates effective implementation of compliance criteria in an additional inspection. The implemented control measures and test results shall be made available to customers on request.
? Point 7 may also be covered by a GFSI recognized post-harvest food safety system (i.e. the processing and packing facility is BRC, IFS, FS220, SQF2000, etc., certified with the relevant scope).Certification can be re-instated only after the producer has accepted this letter; fulfilled the above- mentioned requirements, and after the first additional inspection has been concluded by the certification body with acceptable results.
For these additional inspections the GLOBALG.A.P F&V inspector shall have expertise in microbiology and high-risk food production/processing environments or alternatively form an audit team with an industry expert who has this expertise.
The producer accepts these additional inspections by the certification body, which may include random sample taking of the seed, water, substrate, or from the final product during each visit for microbiological contamination. Analyses results from governments shall also be taken into account during the review of the risk assessment. The producer shall cover the cost of any additional analyses and the additional inspectionsWhen certificates are re-instated, the certification body takes responsibility that these additional measures have been implemented and are continuously complied with on-farm.
Deadline
These conditions shall be accepted within maximum of 2 weeks after receiving this letter. In case this does not happen the producer is not in compliance with the Sublicense & Certification Agreement (V3.0) and needs to be de-registered.
Reference: ‘’GLOBALG.A.P General Regulations Annex: I.5 Sublicence & Certification Agreement (V3.0)
11.1 The GLOBALG.A.P General Regulations, Control Points and Compliance Criteria, each in its most recent version available at http://www.globalgap.org. National Interpretation Guidelines, as they enter into force from time to time and other relevant GLOBALG.A.P documents form an integral part of this Agreement. Alterations / amendments of these documents, shall form part of this Agreement provided CP (Contracted Party = Producer) does not object to a specific alteration / amendment within two weeks after the alteration / amendment has been made public on http://www.globalgap.org or in any other appropriate manner. In the event of an objection both parties shall have the right to terminate this agreement within two weeks after receipt of the objection by certification body.
11.2 CP shall without undue delay transform/implement the alterations / amendments which form part of this Agreement and inform certification body accordingly.’’
From GLOBALG.A.P |
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Published:2011-11-14
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