Farm assurance

Farm assurance is product certification for agricultural products that emphasises the principles of quality assurance. The emphasis on quality assurance means that, in addition to product inspection, farm assurance schemes may include standards and certification for traceability, production methods, transport, and supplies.[1]

All farm assurance schemes claim to ensure high standards of animal welfare, although there is great variation in the requirements that relate to how animals should be kept and cared for.[2]

In our United Kingdom and Australia, the major farm assurance programmes are based on a quality management system for food safety that originated with the US space agency NASA, known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).[3][4] In these and other countries, assurance is underpinned by principles and standards for good manufacturing practice (GMP), good agricultural practice (GAP), good hygienic practice and good trade practice.[5]

Examples of farm assurance schemes include:

  • organic certification
  • The Non-GMO Project, a US organization whose Product Verification Program certifies products that follow best practices to avoid GMO contamination
  • Red Tractor mark, a UK quality assurance programme for animal products and crops[6]
  • Freedom Food, animal welfare assurance from the RSPCA[7]
  • Grainsafe, Indiana-based programme[8]
  • IKB (Integrated chain control system), Netherlands programme[5]
  • the Australian dairy industry's range of HAACP-based programmes[3]

In 2004, 65% of United Kingdom farm production was farm assured, and by 2006, £6 billion worth of food was packed annually under the United Kingdom's Red Tractor farm assurance mark, including over 90% of the country's pig and dairy production.[1][9]

Some farm assurance schemes are given legal force, either by use of trademarks or by oversight by government regulators of agriculture and food standards. While mostly associated with food production, farm assurance can be applied to other agricultural products, such as textiles, flowers, tobacco and biofuels.

In order to obtain farm product certification, assurance may be required for farm supplies. For example, the UK's Red Tractor scheme is supported by assurance programmes for fodder (UFAS, FEMAS) and fertiliser (FIAS).[10][11]

Other quality standards

Other widely used agricultural quality standards are based entirely on product inspection, and do not rely on other aspects of quality assurance. One example of such a programme is the United States Quality Standards for grading, certification and verification: the USDA beef grades depend on physical attributes of the meat, plus the age of the animal.[12]

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See also

References
  1. "Farm Assurance factsheet". UK: Institute of Grocery Distribution. 7 December 2004. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2008. Over 78,000 farmers and growers in the UK are farm assured, accounting for between 65% and 90% of output in the main commodity sectors...Farm assurance is now one link in a chain of assurance, which covers areas such as agricultural inputs (e.g. feed); transport and processing.
  2. "Farm Assurance Schemes & Animal Welfare: How the standards compare. 2012. Executive Summary" (PDF). Compassion in World Farming. 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  3. "Industry information: Food safety and regulation: Dairy Food safety". Dairy Australia. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  4. "THE CERTIFICATION STANDARD" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2008. Annex 4 sets out the seven principles of HACCP
  5. Krieger, Stephanie; Schiefer, Gerhard. "ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION LEVEL IN DIFFERENT QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN THE AGRI-FOOD SECTOR" (PDF). University of Bonn, Germany. p. 619. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2005. Retrieved 22 July 2008.. "The basis for any quality system is good practice, especially good manufacturing practice, good agricultural practice, good hygienic practice and good trade practice".
  6. "Read about AFS". Red Tractor Assured Food Standards. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  7. "Press release: RSPCA: Freedom food – record numbers are looking for the logo". RSPCA via Politics.co.uk. 14 July 2008. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  8. "Grainsafe". Indiana: Purdue University. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  9. "SFFS Indicators – 1.07 Farm assurance schemes (data sheet)". UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  10. "Trade assurance". Agricultural Industries Confederation. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  11. "The Assurance of Animal Feedingstuffs – A Brief Outline". Product Authentication International, a certifying body. Archived from the original on 15 August 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  12. "Grading, certification and verification: USDA Quality Standards". USDA. Retrieved 22 July 2008. For example, Beef quality standards are based on attributes such as marbling (the amount of fat interspersed with lean meat), color, firmness, texture, and age of the animal, for each grade

Further reading
  • Luning, P. A.; Devlieghere, F.; Verhé, R. (eds.). Safety in the agri-food chain. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-76998-77-9. OCLC 60375200.
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