The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), The Consumer Goods Forum’s Coalition of Action on food safety, and Freshcare Limited are pleased to announce that the Freshcare Food Safety & Quality Standard Edition 4.2 has successfully achieved recognition against GFSI’s Benchmarking Requirements Version 2020.1. The recognition encompasses GFSI scopes BI—farming of plants, and BIII—pre-process handling of plant products.

As custodians of Australia’s most widely used standards, Freshcare CEO Jane Siebum says the recognition of this standard is a significant accomplishment for the domestic fresh produce industry. She said that its continued benchmark recognition provides validation that its certified growers are demonstrating that their food safety systems align with world best practice, strengthening confidence and trust in Freshcare certificates in global supply chains.

The achievement of global recognition ensures Freshcare remains at the forefront of domestic and international food safety compliance, underpinning confidence in the safety and quality of Australian fresh produce from paddock to plate.  

Freshcare continues its rigorous commitment to food safety, which is underpinned by science, supported by training and remains practical and relevant for industry while aligning with global best practice.

Marie-Claude Quentin, GFSI senior technical manager for The Consumer Goods Forum, said, “Version 2020 of the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements is our most stringent version yet, transitioning all the GFSI-recognized Certification Programme Owners to this latest version is a very significant step towards our objective of maintaining trust in third-party certification for us, our members and an entire community that relies on GFSI-recognized certification to ensure safe food is produced every day. I am delighted to have witnessed Freshcare going through their benchmarking assessment this year and congratulate them on this positive outcome."