The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) and Aquaculture Certification Council (ACC) on Tuesday submitted the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) for the purpose of benchmarking to GFSI’s food-safety guidelines.
GFSI benchmarking addresses food safety at the processing level, which is essential to the future acceptance of BAP because GFSI is increasingly becoming an expectation of global retail and foodservice operators, said GAA Executive Director Wally Stevens and ACC VP Bill More.
Launched in 2000, GFSI is designed to improve food-safety management systems to ensure consumer confidence in the food supply.
In benchmarking to GFSI guidelines, the BAP certification process will follow specific steps:
- ISO 65-certified accredited bodies will conduct all inspections to determine which BAP-compliant facilities are compliant with GFSI guidelines.
- The same ISO 65 certification bodies will also conduct audits of other BAP standards, including the environmental, social and traceability components.
- ISO 65 certification bodies will be required to use ACC-trained inspectors for all audits.
The GAA and ACC are “proud of the progress that has been made in advancing responsibly produced, sustainable aquaculture globally,” said Stevens and More.
