Growers may have to brace themselves for significantly tougher audit inspections as a result of the latest EurepGap revision.
That unwelcome prospect was put forward by Stephen Cox, international produce director at CMi Certification, who was speaking at last week’s Re:fresh conference. He said that as the Assured Produce Scheme is benchmarked to EurepGap standards, growers could expect a ‘quantum leap’ in terms of demands.
In particular, Cox noted that EurepGap was made significantly more robust during its latest revision, announced at Fruit Logistica in February. This includes a 10 percent increase in control points, to 237, and an even more significant rise in the number of major control points.
Alluding to the fact that there are an increasing number of press stories referring to growers’ dissatisfaction with audit schemes, Cox said that one potential future innovation could be a modular approach, whereby producers ‘bolt on’ modules as required, such as packaging, social responsibility etc.
Another ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ could come in the shape of co-regulation, possibly defined by public sector enforcement delivered by private sector assurance.
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