Certification standards group GlobalGAP has announced that its global expansion has reached a new landmark, with more than 100,000 producers now certified against either the GlobalGAP standard or a GlobalGAP benchmarked standard.
Fresh fruit and vegetable producers represent the majority of those certified, followed by those involved in aquaculture as well as flowers and ornamentals, GlobalGAP noted.
In terms of location, southern Europe is a key distribution area, with almost half of the certified producers originating from Italy (19,301), Spain (19,184) and Greece (11,817).
The GlobalGAP product list now contains over 300 different items, with apples the most-certified product, grown on 20,896 certified farms. Apples are followed by potatoes on 9,249 different farms, and cherries across 7,558 farms.
'The worldwide expansion remains stable; the number of certified producers increased slightly in most of the countries where GlobalGAP is established,' the group said in a news release. 'The regional spreading did not change a lot. Europe still covers the largest part with 80 per cent.'
