Having launched the GGN consumer labels for aquaculture and floriculture in 2016 and 2017 respectively, certification body GlobalGAP has now introduced GGN Agriculture, a cross-category label that includes fruit and vegetables.
Federica Berardo, GlobalGAP’s director of marketing operations, revealed that the label could be used by fruit and vegetable producers with an Integrated Farm Assurance certificate, a fully compliant Grasp assessment, a certificate for the whole chain and proof of participation in GlobalGAP’s residue monitoring system.
“This is a very important step for us, for the stakeholders working with us and for consumers,” she said during a live webinar. “Trust is a very important component in driving purchases, and transparency is a component to build up brand trust.”
Managing director Kristian Moeller explained: “Consumers always ask, ‘Where does my food come from?’ Safeguarding social welfare and the environment is playing a bigger role when it comes to building consumer trust and also to determining purchasing decisions. The consumer label plays an important role. Offering a consumer label and a consumer portal to connect these will help to trigger new purchasing decisions.”
According to Berardo, consumers are pragmatic and concrete about what they want. “They care about the product they bring back home, they want to know where it comes from, who produced it, and how, especially,” she said. “And ideally they want to have this information right on the product.
“We deliver transparency about the product, directly on the product. This enhances the trust in the retailer or in the producer brands, and this ultimately leads to purchases and repurchases. And that is exactly the role of the label, facilitating this virtuous circle of trust.”
Concerning the UK market, Berardo said that work was ongoing to promote the adoption of the label in UK supermarkets. “As soon as we have a presence there, and we are very optimistic that this will happen extremely soon, then of course we’re going to move to the second phase, which is to improve label recognition for the end customer in the UK market,” she revealed.
