Eurepgap Fruit And Vegetables

Eurepgap Fruit and Vegetables, Rauber, EUREPGAP, Germany The normative document for certification, “EUREPGAP Fruit and Vegetables”, has been developed from a World-Wide group of representatives at all stages in the fruit and vegetable supply chain. Started as an initiative by retailers in 1997, in response to consumer concerns and the principal of “certified once accepted everywhere”, the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP) now is steered by an elected committee with equal representation from producers and retailers. With wide consultation over three-years, In addition to the meetings, more than 1000 people from more than 25 countries attended our conferences in 1999, 2000 and 2001 (more information under http://www.eurep.org/sites/history.html ). Technical input from certification bodies on compliance criteria and practical experience from field trials in several countries were used to shape the document, of which all development versions were made public through the own EUREP website (http://www.eurep.org/sites/fresh_doc.html ) The EHI-EuroHandelsinstitut e.V., a not for profit industry research and education institute in Cologne, Germany, acted as international secretariat until March 2001. Then the EHI founded an independent wholly owned subsidiary, the FoodPLUS GmbH, also on a not for profit basis and located in Cologne took over the secretariat and now serves as legal owner of the normative document. In January 2001, all retailer and supplier members of EUREPGAP set-up a formalised representative decision making structure for EUREPPGAP A Steering Committee and a Technical Standard Committee were created and given the responsibility for the continuous review process of the documents and procedures, (next protocol version January 2004) more information: http://www.eurep.org/sites/commitees.html . Initially the secretariat contracted certification bodies in several countries to start a nonaccredited certification process - http://www.eurep.org/sites/fresh_cer.html , the objective of EUREPGAP is to lead the entire system to an ISO65/EN 45011-based accredited certification system to insure integrity and consistency. Early informal contacts with individual accreditation bodies during year 2000 helped to develop the strategy so that the first accredited certificates could be announced in June 2001. EUREPGAP is in the process of developing global reference standards across the entire agricultural sector. Working groups (open to all) are established for the main livestock species (including input sectors such as feedstuffs) combinable crops and ornamentals. The unique Benchmarking process developed by EUREPGAP to ISO65 criteria enables existing best practice to be recognised so that equivalence can be judged objectively and allow mutual recognition. This is particularly relevant in a global market place where food safety scares know no boundaries and there is a need to achieve a level playing field. See also EUREPGAP FAQ’s http://www.eurep.org/sites/q_and_a_main.html