First GLOBALG.A.P. Certified Producer Awarded with the new FSMA PSR Add-on

Peri & Sons Farms in Yerington, Nevada, USA, is the first farm to be successfully assessed to GLOBALG.A.P.’s new global solution for assuring coverage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR) requirements. For Peri & Sons Farms, this is an important part of their efforts to ensure they are compliant at every level of their operation, and meeting customer needs.

In the United States, the Food Safety Modernization Act requires specific practices to be implemented and followed for the production, handling, and import of food products.

To support implementation efforts at the producer level, GLOBALG.A.P. is offering the FSMA PSR Add-on to address control points found in the FSMA PSR that are not directly covered by GLOBALG.A.P.’s Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) Fruit and Vegetables Standard. The FSMA PSR Add-on may be used by producers growing fruit and vegetables in the USA, as well as producers outside the USA who anticipate their products will be exported to the USA market.

Peri & Sons Farms was inspected to the FSMA PSR Add-on while undergoing their regular GLOBALG.A.P. IFA inspection by SCS Global Services for onion production. The FSMA PSR Add-on is designed to be paired with the IFA for Fruit and Vegetables, so that the 30 control points in the FSMA PSR Add-on are efficiently reviewed during the IFA inspection.

Peri & Sons Farms Director of Food Safety, Sara Brinkley, finds that their customers are asking for evidence of FSMA readiness. “The majority of our customers are having these conversations,” she says. The FSMA PSR Add-on plus IFA Fruit and Vegetables certificates can be provided to retailers, importers, and other value-chain participants as evidence of the producer’s efforts toward FSMA implementation.

On November 6 at the GLOBALG.A.P. SUMMIT 2018 in Lima, Peru, Dr. Samir Assar, Director of the Division of Produce Safety, Food and Drug Administration (USA), will lead a discussion on FSMA readiness and the role of private standards in preparing farms around the world to meet requirements for food being grown in or imported into the USA.

For more information on GLOBALG.A.P. FSMA solutions, visit www.globalgap.org/fsma.