The British Independent Fruit Growers' Association (Bifga) has written to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to complain about “over-the-top” requirements of the BRC's packhouse and assurance scheme audits and regulations.

“Apples and pears are not high-risk foods,” wrote Bifga chairman John Breach. “Your supermarket members must surely agree with this or else they would take steps to prevent members of the great-unwashed public from touching fruit at the point of sale. It therefore seems absurd to apply rules which would be more appropriate in pork-pie manufacturing plants or even premises where sandwiches are made.”

Bifga is calling on the BRC and its members to “stop the continual ratcheting up of the various schemes and instead take steps to exclude apples, pears and other fruits and vegetables from these unnecessary controls,” wrote Breach.

The association claims there is widespread dissatisfaction among growers with farm assurance schemes and former scheme supporters are reportedly reconsidering their position and expressing doubts about their usefulness.

Bifga asks why BRC members require growers to provide soil maps and weather records for each farm as well as data on pre-delivery treatment of nursery stock. Breach wrote that inspections are both more frequent and more exacting than originally planned and the assured produce scheme has not brought the desired uniformity of standards as most multiples still exert their own requirements.

The BRC told the Journal it was considering its response.

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