| Global food safety initiative audits |
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| Oregon Department of Agriculture and NCSI Americas, Inc. |
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In order to meet industry demand for food safety certifications, Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) has partnered with NCSI Americas, Inc. to provide GFSI audits. ODA auditing and inspection services can potentially be bundled as a cost-saving measure.
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| What is GFSI? |
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The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a non-profit foundation developed in Belgium in 2000 for the purposes of unifying and benchmarking food safety standards. The standards that meet the GFSI benchmarking requirements are often required by major retailers as evidence of food safety practices implemented by their suppliers
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| The benefits of GFSI certification |
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Third party certifications provide customers confidence in the claims made about a product. In the case of GFSI audits, buyers can be assured that the products they are purchasing come from a farm or facility with comprehensive food safety practices in place. Most major retailers have specific certifications they require of their suppliers. Contact your buyers for their requirements or contact the Oregon Department of Agriculture Commodity Inspection Division for assistance.
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| Certifications available |
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Of the GFSI recognized schemes, Oregon Department of Agriculture provides:
GlobalG.A.P. (Integrated Farm Assurance)
- Appropriate for individual producers (Option 1) or grower groups (Option 2 69KB pdf)
- Can include field packing and produce handling components
- Can include a Quality Management System component
SQF 1000 & SQF 2000
- SQF 1000 for producers and SQF 2000 for processors
- Three levels of certification are available
- Food Safety Fundamentals
- Certified HACCP Food Safety Plans
- Comprehensive Food Safety and Quality Management Systems
- Each level builds upon the previous level with Level 2 and Level 3 benchmarked for GFSI recognition
PrimusGFS
- One audit can encompass both farm and processing operations
- Most similar to USDA GAP & GHP audits in criteria and scoring
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| Application process |
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It is advisable to become familiar with buyer certification requirements (if applicable) to determine the standard you wish to audit to, and then prepare your operation a year in advance. The actual time needed may vary based on the infrastructure of the food safety program already in place on the farm or in the facility requiring certification. Standards can be found at their respective websites as indicated on the "Additional Resources" sidebar on the right.
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| Fees |
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$300 Initial certification fee (per certificate or per site, if sites are on separate certificates)
$300 Annual fee payable to NCSI Americas, Inc.
$92 per audit hour, 4 hour required minimum (includes administrative time, review time, inspection, and travel time, etc...)
Travel costs: Mileage, lodging, and per diem as required for inspections billed at rates established by Oregon Department of Administrative Services.
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| Application forms |
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Please submit the following form for certification services: GFSI Application, (691 KB pdf)
GlobalGAP applicants will also need to fill out one of the following forms for either Option 1 (Individual) or Option 2 (Producer Group) certification.
GlobalG.A.P certification
Please email all completd forms to gfsi@oda.state.or.us
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| Updates |
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- Beginning July 1, 2012, SQF 1000 and SQF 2000 will be merged into a single standard simply called SQF. See the SQF website for more information on these changes.
- As of January 1, 2012, GlobalGAP certifications are being audited to Integrated Farm Assurance Version 4. See the GlobalGAP website for more information on these changes or view the version update summary.(263 KB pdf).
If you have any questions about applying for a GFSI benchmarked certification, please call the ODA GFSI Certification Program at (503) 986-4620 or email gfsi@oda.state.or.us.
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