January 2019 - 22

How to pick the correct GAP standard for your farm
By Ken Petersen
USDA
In the past year, the Specialty Crops
Program has modernized the USDA
Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
program to make our food safety
verification audits a single tool that
growers of all sizes can use to meet
multiple and complex regulatory and
market-access requirements.
In a recent issue of our newsletter,
we talked in detail about how we
aligned U.S. Department of Agriculture
Harmonized GAP audits with the
requirements of the Food Safety
Modernization Act's (FSMA) Produce
Safety Rule and attained technical
equivalence of the USDA Harmonized
GAP Plus+ audits with the Global Food
Safety Initiative (GFSI).
We've been receiving some specific
questions about our audit offerings and
the changes we made. Here are some
frequently asked questions and answers.
What is the best USDA GAP
audit for me?
We offer a variety of voluntary
GAP audit services, from the updated
Harmonized GAP and Harmonized
GAP Plus+ audits to commodity-specific
audits for mushrooms, tomatoes, leafy
greens and cantaloupes. You can choose
the USDA GAP audit service that best
meets the needs of you and your buyers.
To make all of our services accessible
to producers of all sizes, we also offer
GroupGAP, a service option that allows
producers and others to pool resources
to undergo USDA GAP certification.
What is a USDA Harmonized
GAP audit?
The USDA Harmonized GAP audit
was developed as part of the Produce
GAP Harmonization Initiative, an
industry-driven effort to create food
FOR MARKET
ACCESS, I NEED:
USDA Harmonized GAP Plus+
USDA Harmonized GAP
USDA GAP & GHP
safety GAP standards and audit
checklists for pre-harvest and postharvest
operations. The initiative is
a collaborative effort on the part of
growers, shippers, produce buyers,
audit organizations, and government
agencies, including USDA. The USDA
Harmonized GAP audit is a single
audit that is applicable to all fresh
produce commodities, all sizes of onfarm
operations, and all regions in the
United States.
How does the USDA
Harmonized GAP Plus+ service
relate to other USDA GAP
programs?
USDA offers several types of GAP
audit services.
USDA GAP audits are our basic
service. These audits are aligned with
industry best practices and Food
and Drug Administration (FDA)
recommendations.
USDA Harmonized GAP audits
meet industry best practices, FDA
best practices and are aligned with the
Produce GAP Harmonization Initiative
and FSMA's Produce Safety Rule.
The new USDA Harmonized GAP
Global Food
Safety Initiative
Technical
Equivalence
FDA FSMA
Produce
Safety Rule
Alignment
X X
X
Plus+ audits include all USDA GAP and
Harmonized GAP alignments and are
recognized by GFSI.
How does the alignment of
the USDA Harmonized GAP
Audit with the FSMA Produce
Safety Rule help the specialty
crop industry?
The alignment of USDA's Harmonized
GAP program for specialty crops
with the requirements of the FDA's
FSMA Produce Safety Rule provides
growers with an opportunity to better
understand how their operations align
with FDA's regulatory requirements for
the specialty crops sector.
This voluntary, user-fee funded
audit program provides a tool that
verifies food safety practices have been
implemented to help keep our nation's
food supply safe.
Why did USDA undertake
GFSI technical equivalence?
We undertook the GFSI
benchmarking process at the request
of many grower groups, commodity
boards, trade associations, and others in
the specialty crops sectors who asked us
Produce GAP
Harmonization
Initiative
Alignment
Adherence to
Industry and
FDA Best
Practices
X X
X
X
X
Source: USDA
to align the USDA GAP Program with
GFSI to reduce audit fatigue and the
costs of multiple food safety audits.
Now that the USDA Harmonized
GAP Plus+ program is GFSI technically
equivalent, the more than 4,000 growers,
packers, and handlers who are our
customers can use a USDA GAP audit to
also meet the requirements of the many
retail, food service, and institutional
buyers that require their suppliers to
undergo a GFSI-benchmarked food
safety audit. With GFSI technical
equivalence, USDA is helping increase
marketing opportunities for specialty
crops producers and expand purchasing
options for buyers.
We hope that these questions and
answers provide the information you
need to put the USDA GAP program
to work for you. If you'd like to learn
more, please check out the GAP & Good
Handling page of the AMS website
or contact USDA's Specialty Crops
Inspection Division, Audit Services
Branch at (202) 720-5021 or SCAudits@
ams.usda.gov.
Ken Petersen is chief of USDA's
Audit Services Branch, Specialty Crops
Division. VGN
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January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2019