GLOBALG.A.P. Presents its New TR4 Biosecurity Add-On for Bananas

GLOBALG.A.P. is proud to present its new TR4 Biosecurity Add-On. It is an innovation in the GLOBALG.A.P. family of standards, since it tackles a very specific issue: Fusarium oxysporum f. sp . cubense – tropical race 4 (TR4), which is also referred to as “Foc 4” or “Panama disease”. For the first time ever, GLOBALG.A.P. has developed a commodity-specific Add-On that specifically targets a major pathogen, according to a press release.

This Add-On comes as a reaction to our members’ concerns about the worldwide spreading of the pathogen. It has been developed through an extensive collaboration with producers from various countries, leading scientific institutions, plant protection agencies and other stakeholders such as certification bodies.
The TR4 Biosecurity Add-On equips IFA certified producers (for bananas only) with a tool to perform a detailed risk assessment of their banana plantations and provides the basic points in the preparation of a mitigation plan. At the same time, certification bodies (CBs) assessing this Add-On need to have provisions in place in order to ensure that proper disinfection measures have been performed by their auditors before/after visiting a banana plantation. This is another innovation of the Add-On. Finally, the TR4 Biosecurity Add-On is an assessment (not a certificate) which will be visible in the GLOBALG.A.P. Database.