The Food Safety Forum was organised by TÜV HELLAS along with the GLOBALG.A.P. international organisation in Athens.
Remarkable attendance and high levels of interest were among the defining features of the Food Safety Forum organised by TÜV HELLAS along with the GLOBALG.A.P. international organisation on 31 October in Athens. The aim of the Forum was to highlight food safety and agricultural practice issues. The conference was honoured with the presence of the Deputy Minister of Rural and Food Development, Ioannis Tsironis, who announced the state’s willingness to contribute further to the reinforcement of the Greek agricultural sector in respect of quality. Ioannis Karayiannis, President of the Hellenic Association of Accredited Certification and Inspection Bodies, and Mamalis Spyros, President of Geotechnical Chamber, also gave welcoming addresses.
In the opening speech, Savvas Peltekis, Managing Director of TÜV HELLAS, referred to the importance of the agrifood sector for the organisation and the leading role assigned to the association in the food sector by the parent company TÜV NORD. He spoke about the benefits of certification and the role of a valid and internationally licensed certificate as a passport to the global markets for Greek products.
The president of GLOBALG.A.P., Guy Callebaut, presented the organisation’s philosophy and development plan. The data for Greece, which showed an increase of 22% for the last 12 months of operations of the certified producers, were impressive. GLOBALG.A.P.’s executives, Dr Friedrich Luedeke and Dr Vassilis Stamatis, presented the new Chain Of Custody, Crops for Processing and Grasp standards and the programme for the assessment of the certification bodies.
The Quality Manager of AB Vassilopoulos (Ahold Delhaize), Dionysis Dionysopoulos, having analysed the requirements of the AB AGRODIASPHALISIS protocol, stressed that the GLOBALG.A.P. certificates will be accepted by AB Vassilopoulos.
Among the presentations of great interest were those given by Ioannis Stoitsis from the foodakai company on risk management in the food and drink industry, Chrysis Kotonias from BAYER on the BAYGAP programme, developed in collaboration with GLOBALG.A.P., Αnne-Corine Vlaardingerbroek from the Dutch supermarket Jumpo Supermarkten and Carlo Hernadez from Trichodex.
GLOBALG.A.P.
GLOBALG.A.P. is a collaboration between European retail companies in the food and agricultural products sectors, Euro Retail Produce Working Group, which aims to establish global acceptance rules, to develop a Good Agricultural Practice framework (G.A.P.), and to bring about continuous improvements in and a deepening understanding of right practice, along with open communication between consumers and the production sectors, including producers and export-import companies.
The Good Agricultural Practice framework (G.A.P.) includes the implementation of integrated pest management systems (IPM) and integrated crop management systems (ICM) with the aim of short-term improvement and sustainability and the use of HACCP principles in conjunction with compliance with National and International Legislation.
The purpose of implementing GLOBALG.A.P. is the response to growing consumer concerns about issues concerning the:
- Maintenance of confidence in food safety
- Minimisation of the harmful effects on the environment
- Minimisation of the use of agrochemicals
- Improvement of the efficiency of the use of natural resources
- Reassurance of positive attitude to health and safety issues for workers