PRESS STATEMENT

Traders and Farmers Unite to Boost World Food Standards

Another giant step towards harmonising farm assurance standards across the world’s growing food supply chain will be taken at a major livestock summit in The Netherlands on November 9 and 10, 2004.

Organised by EurepGAP, an association of farmers, processors and retailers committed to achieving international accord on food safety, farm assurance and other technical issues, the conference will be held in Amsterdam and will focus on opening the doors to greater transparency between buyers and sellers in the global market place.

Speakers include Gerard Doornbos, President of LTO, the Dutch Farmers Union, Dr. Uwe Tillmann, CEO of BestMeat, Hans-Juergen Matern, Head of QA, Metro Group, Chris Anstey, Tesco, and Johann Zueblin, Migros. They will spell out the latest actions that are being taken to speed up more co-operation between the various links of the supply chain within the livestock industry. Delegates will also look at the efforts being made to ensure sustainability and integrity across the whole food industry.

Various case studies will be discussed to highlight the organisation’s “whole chain” approach, independent auditing and the use of the latest information technologies to improve standards and keep consumers informed.

Delegates will also hear how retailers are working in partnership with suppliers across the world to identify new options for efficient and cost-effective certification of farm-assured products.

EurepGAP’s independent chairman Nigel Garbutt explained: “In the increasingly global market place for farm products, farmers need widely accepted standards that are capable of being audited, without the extra costs of duplication. We have been consulting across the whole industry since 2000 - and we are now close to achieving the goal of harmonised global standards that can be effectively and efficiently verified.”

Mr Garbutt added: “Our conference in The Netherlands will play an important part in these efforts and it promises to be both stimulating and productive for all businesses involved in food production.”


See more information and Online Registration here!

Who should attend: All interested parties in the progress and technical experience of best practice for the IFA and IAA protocols.

• Whole Farm Assurance
• Cereals, Combinable Crops
  
• Pig and Poultry
• Cattle and Sheep
• Dairy
  
• Aquaculture
  

See Press Statement in other languages (Deutsch, Italiano, Espanol, Francais):
http://www.eurep.org/farm/publications.html?Lang=0