Four audits, one price, one inspection. Music to the ears of pressurised growers and now becoming a practical reality.
Efsis, the global inspection and certification specialist, has consolidated its business to ensure it has a more focused approach to customers' requirements. Efsis Limited, Efsis Certification and Farm Inspection Services (FIS) will now trade as Efsis Limited, from one UK office in Milton Keynes, headed up by md, Mark Proctor.
The company is divided into three key business divisions, food processing, agriculture and international operations, run by food director, Carole Payne, agriculture director, Rob Gready and marketing & international operations director, Paul Ruocco, respectively.
Gready, a EurepGap sub-committee member, told the Journal: "We can now offer the fully integrated one-stop-shop approach to the UK's fresh produce industry. We are certified auditors for Assured Produce, and therefore EurepGap, Leaf and having worked extensively with Tesco, Nature's Choice. Farmers are fed up of scheduling and paying for two or three audits and we have probably the biggest farm inspection service of its type in the country."
Gready is a speaker at next month's EurepGap conference in Madrid and said: "Efsis has been intimately involved in the development of EurepGap and we have tried to bring a realistic British perspective to what can and should be achieved in terms of good agricultural practices."
Through the merger of its three enterprises, Efsis also will also provide cross-sector audits. Gready said: "Potato producers in particular will find this very significant, as they are often large cereal producers as well. The smaller scale fresh produce grower will also benefit. The important thing is that the industry as a whole recognises the strong focus Efsis now has on the whole of agriculture, including of course horticulture."
Proctor concluded: "We have seen tremendous growth in our business in recent years. By offering our clients a more focused and streamlined approach to third party inspection and certification, I believe, in five years, we will be the world's leading inspection and certification body in the food sector and allied industries."
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