GMP+ Feed Responsibility Policy
Johan den Hartog – Managing Director of GMP+ International
Published in International Aquafeed, November - December 2014
There is an increasing interest for sustainability regarding food production internationally. Sustainability is not a hype, because more and more people realise that our globe has limited resources and also human activities have an impact on climate too due to the use of fossil energy sources. It is also clear that phosphate sources reach their bottom. Additionally, the increase of the world population and the increase of purchase power will also result in an increase of the production volume of food of animal origin next decades. Therefore sustainability is a must for life on earth on the long run. In the production of animal products, like milk, meat, eggs and aquatic produces, feed products are a substantial input factor with sustainability related aspects.
In certain regions and markets, feed companies are confronted with questions about the sustainability or responsibility of the production of feed ingredients and mixed feeds. The retail, and animal processing industry are developing sustainability policies, which results in increasing attention for the feed supply chain. Therefore international holders of Good Agricultural Practices systems like GLOBALG.A.P. and Aquaculture Stewardships Council, but also national G.A.P. systems are defining sustainability requirements, including for the input of animal feed.
Sustainability or responsibility is not a well-defined term with uniform requirements. We prefer the use of the term “responsibility’ instead of ‘sustainability’, to express that responsibility requirements are a movement in the direction of a higher degree of sustainability. We notice differences in the market about the definition of responsibility, depending on the market segment, region of country. In some cases, also non-genetically modified products are considered more sustainable that modified one. For that reason, the feed companies have to cope with different demands, especially international operating companies.
The core business of GMP+ International is managing a Feed Safety Assurance (GMP+ FSA) certification scheme. Over 13,100 feed companies in the whole feed chain in over 65 countries are GMP+ FSA certified. It is about companies in the whole feed chain (see figure 1) and active regarding collection of arable products, processing arable products, feed ingredient production, trade, storage & transshipment, transport, pre-mixture and compound feed production.
A couple of years ago, GMP+ FSA certified companies asked GMP+ International also to support the companies with the possibility of certification regarding feed responsibility aspects. The main reason was to obtain combined certification of feed safety assurance and feed responsibility assurance and in order to be able to cope with expected market demands. For that reason, GMP+ International has defined its Feed Responsibility Policy in close collaboration with its partners about a one-stop shop – multiple certification solution in a dynamic and varying market.
The baseline of the flexible approach regarding feed responsibility assurance is providing support to companies who are are operating in different markets with varying responsibility requirements.
Another important baseline is that the downstream market partners are leading in defining responsibility requirements and demanding for feed products complying with these requirements. Ultimately, they are the demanding parties. For that reason, GMP+ International seeks for (non-exclusive) collaboration with scheme holders active a) in the primary production (arable production, marine sourcing, and mining) upstream and b) in livestock farming and aquaculture downstream in the food chain. In this way, will embed the feed chain in a longer chain of custody of food production.
Therefore, GMP+ International looks for collaboration with market initiatives, which have or will define responsibility requirements for the feed supply chain. GMP+ International chooses a so-called plug-in model (see figure 2). A certification system consists roughly of three components: normative requirements, quality management system requirements and certification rules. GMP+ International aims to link the feed responsibility requirements of a market initiative with a recently developed GMP+ B100 Feed Responsibility Management System standard containing the other two components mentioned before. That together will be offered to interested feed companies to obtain a certificate that complies with demands of the market initiative. The GMP+ B100 standard will be determined before end 2014. At this moment, we have deliberations with the first market initiatives for collaborations as mentioned before.
In this way, GMP+ International intends to offer a one-stop shop - multiple certification solution. It is a multiple certification, when a company wants to provide products complying with requirements of different market initiatives. It is also a multiple certification solution for combining certification of feed safety assurance and feed responsibility assurance. The quality management requirements for assuring compliance with the normative requirements in the daily operations for both aspects are more or less the same. The certification procedure can also be combined easily to save costs. Nevertheless, we do not intend to force companies to combine participation in the GMP+ Feed Responsibility Assurance certification with the GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance certification. Certification against the GMP+ B100 Feed Responsibility Management standard is possible stand-alone, also for companies certified against another feed safety assurance system.
Read the magazine HERE.
Johan den Hartog – Managing Director of GMP+ International
Published in International Aquafeed, November - December 2014
There is an increasing interest for sustainability regarding food production internationally. Sustainability is not a hype, because more and more people realise that our globe has limited resources and also human activities have an impact on climate too due to the use of fossil energy sources. It is also clear that phosphate sources reach their bottom. Additionally, the increase of the world population and the increase of purchase power will also result in an increase of the production volume of food of animal origin next decades. Therefore sustainability is a must for life on earth on the long run. In the production of animal products, like milk, meat, eggs and aquatic produces, feed products are a substantial input factor with sustainability related aspects.
In certain regions and markets, feed companies are confronted with questions about the sustainability or responsibility of the production of feed ingredients and mixed feeds. The retail, and animal processing industry are developing sustainability policies, which results in increasing attention for the feed supply chain. Therefore international holders of Good Agricultural Practices systems like GLOBALG.A.P. and Aquaculture Stewardships Council, but also national G.A.P. systems are defining sustainability requirements, including for the input of animal feed.
Sustainability or responsibility is not a well-defined term with uniform requirements. We prefer the use of the term “responsibility’ instead of ‘sustainability’, to express that responsibility requirements are a movement in the direction of a higher degree of sustainability. We notice differences in the market about the definition of responsibility, depending on the market segment, region of country. In some cases, also non-genetically modified products are considered more sustainable that modified one. For that reason, the feed companies have to cope with different demands, especially international operating companies.
The core business of GMP+ International is managing a Feed Safety Assurance (GMP+ FSA) certification scheme. Over 13,100 feed companies in the whole feed chain in over 65 countries are GMP+ FSA certified. It is about companies in the whole feed chain (see figure 1) and active regarding collection of arable products, processing arable products, feed ingredient production, trade, storage & transshipment, transport, pre-mixture and compound feed production.
A couple of years ago, GMP+ FSA certified companies asked GMP+ International also to support the companies with the possibility of certification regarding feed responsibility aspects. The main reason was to obtain combined certification of feed safety assurance and feed responsibility assurance and in order to be able to cope with expected market demands. For that reason, GMP+ International has defined its Feed Responsibility Policy in close collaboration with its partners about a one-stop shop – multiple certification solution in a dynamic and varying market.
The baseline of the flexible approach regarding feed responsibility assurance is providing support to companies who are are operating in different markets with varying responsibility requirements.
Another important baseline is that the downstream market partners are leading in defining responsibility requirements and demanding for feed products complying with these requirements. Ultimately, they are the demanding parties. For that reason, GMP+ International seeks for (non-exclusive) collaboration with scheme holders active a) in the primary production (arable production, marine sourcing, and mining) upstream and b) in livestock farming and aquaculture downstream in the food chain. In this way, will embed the feed chain in a longer chain of custody of food production.
Therefore, GMP+ International looks for collaboration with market initiatives, which have or will define responsibility requirements for the feed supply chain. GMP+ International chooses a so-called plug-in model (see figure 2). A certification system consists roughly of three components: normative requirements, quality management system requirements and certification rules. GMP+ International aims to link the feed responsibility requirements of a market initiative with a recently developed GMP+ B100 Feed Responsibility Management System standard containing the other two components mentioned before. That together will be offered to interested feed companies to obtain a certificate that complies with demands of the market initiative. The GMP+ B100 standard will be determined before end 2014. At this moment, we have deliberations with the first market initiatives for collaborations as mentioned before.
In this way, GMP+ International intends to offer a one-stop shop - multiple certification solution. It is a multiple certification, when a company wants to provide products complying with requirements of different market initiatives. It is also a multiple certification solution for combining certification of feed safety assurance and feed responsibility assurance. The quality management requirements for assuring compliance with the normative requirements in the daily operations for both aspects are more or less the same. The certification procedure can also be combined easily to save costs. Nevertheless, we do not intend to force companies to combine participation in the GMP+ Feed Responsibility Assurance certification with the GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance certification. Certification against the GMP+ B100 Feed Responsibility Management standard is possible stand-alone, also for companies certified against another feed safety assurance system.
Read the magazine HERE.
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