GlobalGAP North America says banana importer Equifruit now meets GlobalGAP’s Produce Handling Assurance standard. Equifruit is a fair trade-certified importer sourcing from Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
“Our company takes pride in being innovators in the marketplace in the banana sector,” Equifruit President Jennie Coleman said in a news release. “When we were first approached by a North American retailer about certification at the packhouse level, we were delighted to collaborate with Asoguabo, which is a world leader of fair-trade banana exports.”
To meet the GlobalGAP’s Produce Handling Assurance standard, Equifruit worked with Ecuadorian banana grower Asoguabo to be the first operation outside of the U.S. with PHA certification, according to the release.
“Asoguabo already holds GlobalGAP’s Integrated Farm Assurance certification for the farming operations, so it just made sense to add PHA for the packing facilities,” Asoguabo CEO Lianne Zoeteweij said in the release. “GlobalGAP certification standards are trusted worldwide with a large network of certification bodies that could support us in Latin America.”
PHA provides food safety and traceability certification of postharvest activities such as the cooling, packing, handling and storage of crops for human consumption. It is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative and supports compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act, according to the release. Growers can combine PHA with GlobalGAP’s Integrated Farm Assurance or Harmonized Produce Safety Standard to provide a complete certification option for producers with on-farm packing or other postharvest activities.
“The GlobalGAP PHA standard is specifically developed for operations doing packing, cooling and storage — whether on the farm or at an independent facility. We work closely with sector stakeholders to ensure we are setting robust, yet realistic and cost-efficient standards while still meeting the evolving needs of buyers,” Roberta Anderson, president of GlobalGAP North America, said in the release.
Asoguabo selected Control Union as the certification body to conduct its GlobalGAP audit and issue the certificate, according to the release.
