Local initatives for harmonizing food safety standards

摘要

CGA visited the SENWES and Hoedspruit growing regions in December 2013 to discuss the challenge of multiple food safety and pesticide residue requirements that are being applied by different overseas receivers of South African citrus. Such multiple requirements make citrus production prohibitively complex and potentially unsustainable. The root concern has been the retailer and buyer requirements are generic and do not necessarily take into account Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) or sustainable practices at the farm level. Thus these new initiatives seek to restore a balance between achieving a high level of consumer assurance while simultaneously doing the "right thing" at the production level.The consensus at the meetings was to develop a regional (local) approach to this problem rather than each individual tackling it themselves. This was informed by the fact that the intra-regional production and climatic conditions are similar, pest and diseases are best managed collectively in an area, these growers are already working cooperatively together on other issues and, finally, because these growers are marketing their fruit in similar marketing window.