The ultimate goal of having a single international food safety standard for fresh produce may still be a long way off, but progress is being made to find ways to create a greater level of harmonisation in North America.

To this end GlobalGAP has established an office in Washington DC currently run by managing director and secretary Kristian Moeller, with the hope is that the FDA and USDA will accept its certifications and registration data to be used and incorporated into its monitoring and control procedures making he industry more of a global player .

It is working closely with the United Fresh Produce Association in setting up a technical working group which includes some of the best known international suppliers

Its efforts have also been given impetus through the impact on the industry of food scares.

David Gambas the UFPA senior vice president for food safety told the audience: "The industry was already suffering from 'audit fatigue', because no single standard or scheme predominates."

While many were similar, they were different enough to require a separate audit.

At present the US requirements do not, unlike Global GAP, although he accepted that , take into account environmental or sustainable issues, A harmonised food safety standard has to be credible outside the US."