Among certified companies and other schemes there sometimes is some confusion about the role of (other) scheme holders. Some companies see the scheme holder as the ‘authority’ that enforces rules. Some safety schemes see fellow scheme holders as competitors. This is a pity, because when it concerns the social interest (feed safety) there should be no competitors, only coalitions.
Johan den Hartog
Managing Director, GMP+ International
‘Together’ is one of our corporate core values . A general principle of GMP+ FSA is that all participants share the responsibility of feed safety within the whole feed chain. But ‘together’ equally refers to the relationship between the feed- and food chain and retail; after all, safe food cannot exist between safe feed.
Through our chain approach, GMP+ FSA contributes to a safe production process: from collection and transport to storage and finally the production. Strictly speaking that is where our responsibility ends. But it would be a pity if the hard work of the feed chain is canceled out by negligence in the chain that follows.
The main element of the vision of GMP+ International is that ‘Everyone in the world should have access to safe food.’. To achieve that, every company within the feed sector must be devoted to safe feed. Although our standards end at the end of the production process, we have an obligation to our mission – and of course, to the society – to also ensure an optimal connection with the subsequent part of the feed chain.
That is why GMP+ International is actively looking for partnerships with schemes and organizations ‘further along’ the chain. Partnerships – in the form of mutual coordination about conditions, information exchange and streamlining of, for instance, integrity policy – exist in, the Netherlands, (IKBs and ZuivelNL), Germany (QM-Milch), Poland (Polish Beef Association) and across the globe (Global GAP).
With over 18,000 certified companies in about 89 countries, we feel the responsibility to anchor our scheme – and with that, feed safety – in the global value chain.
In concrete terms, this means that parties such as livestock farms, food production companies and retail do not consider GMP+ International to be a critical outsider but a reliable partner. This goes just as well for other feed safety schemes; one global scheme is not realistic, so it is better to join forces to harmonize the requirements for feed safety assurance where possible..
We hope that you will join us in our search for mutual trust, because together we are responsible for safe food for everyone.
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