GLOBALG.A.P. Implementation for Growers and Packhouses
ASC Food Safety Consultants implements GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance for South African growers, packhouses and producer groups, covering scope and option choice, plant protection product management, water, traceability and the internal audit. ASC is a consultancy and not a certification body.
Consulting is charged hourly. A full implementation is quoted on scope once ASC has seen the site and the size of the gap, and ASC will tell you before the quote if the work is smaller than you think.
European retailers buy South African fruit, vegetables, citrus and wine grapes on condition that the produce comes from a farm certified to GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance. It is a pre farm gate standard covering the site, the crop, the inputs put onto that crop and the people who work with it, ending where the produce leaves the farm or packhouse inside the certified scope. For growers selling into European retail it is a condition of supply, not a marketing advantage.
The standard is built from control points, each with compliance criteria describing what an auditor must see before the point is judged compliant. They cover site history and site management, record keeping and internal self assessment, worker health, safety and welfare, waste and pollution management, environment and conservation, plant protection product management, water management, harvest and post harvest handling, and traceability. ASC turns that structure into records and habits that genuinely exist on the farm.
In ASC’s experience the findings that hold up a first audit are seldom about the farm being unsafe. They come from spray records that do not reconcile with the chemical store stock, an irrigation water risk assessment nobody did, internal inspections signed by the person who manages the members, or a traceability exercise that cannot account for the volumes packed.
Key facts at a glance
When a business calls ASC in
- An export buyer has made certification a condition of supply and the farm has never been audited.
- You are a group of smallholder or emerging growers weighing individual certification against producer group certification.
- You came out of an audit with major must non conformances to close inside your certification body’s deadline.
- You pack certified and non certified produce through one packhouse and doubt your segregation and mass balance would survive testing.
- Your spray programme, pre harvest intervals and application records sit with different people, unreconciled against the registered label uses.
How ASC works with you
Scope, certification option and gap assessment
ASC starts on the ground, walking the blocks, the chemical store, the pack shed and the record files, then fixes the scope in writing: sites, crops, packhouse, and anything handled outside it. The first real decision is the option. Option 1 covers a single producer certifying their own registered production, one site or several under one legal entity. Option 2 covers a producer group certifying together under a quality management system, which suits schemes where small growers share an exporter or packhouse. Option 2 lowers cost per grower but moves much of the audit burden inside the group, which becomes responsible for policing its own members. Confirm the applicable version of the standard and its transition dates with your certification body before any document is drafted.
Building the system on the farm and in the packhouse
Plant protection product management is the heaviest workstream. ASC works through the programme product by product: only remedies registered for that crop under the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act 36 of 1947, used in line with the label for rate, target and interval, pre harvest intervals observed and evidenced, application records naming block, product, batch, rate, operator and date, sprayer calibration, a store that separates and secures product, and a disposal route for containers and obsolete stock. Residue limits are set by the destination market, so confirm the maximum residue limits for each destination market with your buyer and against the limits that market’s authority publishes. ASC then builds the irrigation water risk assessment and the microbiological testing plan that follows from it, hygiene rules for harvest, post harvest handling and the packhouse, which also falls under the general hygiene requirements, R638 of 22 June 2018, Government Gazette 41730, and the traceability system: lot identity from block to carton, a mass balance reconciling harvested against packed and dispatched volumes, and a parallel ownership or parallel production procedure where certified and non certified product move through the same hands.
Internal self assessment, internal audit and readiness
Every certified producer assesses itself against the control points before the certification body arrives. A producer group does far more. A group quality management system requires an internal inspection of every member, an internal auditor independent of the members inspected, a member register showing who is registered for which crops and areas, a sanctions procedure the group will actually apply to its own people, and an internal audit of the system itself. ASC sets that up, trains the internal inspectors and the internal auditor, then runs a one day GLOBALG.A.P. internal audit on site. Findings go to management on the last day and the written report follows within two weeks of the closing meeting.
What you receive
| Deliverable | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Gap assessment report | The control points applying to your crops and scope, what is in place, what is missing, and what must be corrected before audit. |
| Scope and option decision note | Registered sites, crops and areas, the packhouse position, a written comparison of Option 1 against Option 2, and any parallel ownership or parallel production declared. |
| Documented farm system | Procedures and registers for site history and management, worker health, safety and welfare, waste and pollution, environment and conservation, hygiene, harvest and post harvest handling, and traceability. |
| Producer group quality management system | Where Option 2 applies: member register and agreements, internal inspection checklists, internal auditor competence and independence records, the sanctions procedure, and the internal audit programme. |
| Plant protection product file | Registered product list per crop, label based pre harvest intervals, application and calibration records, store and stock control, and the destination market residue limits you confirmed. |
| Internal audit report | A one day on site audit against the control points, findings presented on the last day, and the written report within two weeks. |
Everything you need for GLOBALG.A.P., in one place
Consulting is one route. The ASC toolkits carry the documents and registers, the online course walks your team through implementation, and the library explains the standard first.
Do it yourself
Editable ASC document toolkits and templates, built by the same auditors who run the audits.
Train your team
Accredited online courses on ascfoodsafetytraining.com, studied at your own pace with certificates on completion.
Read first
Free guidance from the ASC library, written for South African food businesses.
Who this work suits
Most growers asked for GLOBALG.A.P. are asked for SIZA in the same season, and ASC does both on the same site visit where the timing allows.
ASC works with deciduous fruit and table grape growers, citrus growers and citrus packhouses, wine grape producers, subtropical and berry growers, vegetable growers supplying formal retail, the packhouses and exporters that consolidate their fruit, and smallholder schemes certifying under an exporter or a mentor.
ASC Food Safety Consultants is led by Mthokozisi Nkosi, a SAATCA registered lead auditor. ASC is a FoodBev SETA Accredited Provider No. 587/00337/1900 and is B-BBEE Level 1.
Where ASC stops
ASC is not a certification body. ASC does not certify anyone, does not award a certificate against any scheme, and cannot guarantee a certification result. That decision belongs to an accredited certification body after its own third party audit. ASC builds the system, trains your people and tests it internally, and an ASC audit is never a substitute for the certification audit.
Frequently asked questions
Should we certify as individual producers or as a producer group?
It depends on how many growers there are and who will carry the internal management. Individual certification is simpler where one business controls all the production. Group certification shares cost and effort, but the quality management system must have teeth: every member inspected internally, an internal auditor independent of those inspected, a member register, a sanctions procedure that is used, and an internal audit of the system itself. If nobody will suspend a member who sprays an unregistered product, the group route fails.
What is the difference between a major must, a minor must and a recommendation?
Control points are classified by weight. Major musts are the points the standard treats as fundamental, and an open major must blocks certification. Minor musts are still obligations, but the standard allows a defined level of compliance across them rather than requiring every one. Recommendations are good practice the auditor assesses and comments on, and carry the least weight. The compliance levels for each class sit in the standard’s general regulations and differ by option, so confirm those applying to you with your certification body rather than a remembered figure.
Do we also need add on modules such as GRASP?
Add on modules sit alongside Integrated Farm Assurance and are assessed with it rather than replacing it. GRASP is the module addressing social practice on the farm, covering how workers are represented and how employment matters are handled, and many European buyers ask for it with the base certification. Which add ons you need is a buyer question first, so confirm the modules your buyer requires and which of those your certification body can assess.
How long does implementation take, and how is the work charged?
It depends on the option, the number of sites and members, and how much record keeping already exists in usable form. ASC consulting is charged hourly, and a full implementation is a project running over days or weeks, quoted on the agreed scope once the gap assessment has shown what the work is.
What happens if the certification audit still raises findings?
Some will. An audit that raises nothing at all is unusual, and the certification body is entitled to see things ASC did not. What ASC works to prevent is a finding against a requirement it built, and a finding the site cannot close inside the certification body’s deadline. ASC stays available while findings are closed, works each one back to a root cause rather than patching it, and gathers the closure evidence in the form the auditor asked for. ASC cannot guarantee the outcome, because the decision belongs to the certification body, and any consultant who guarantees it is telling you something they cannot deliver.
Know what stands between you and your first GLOBALG.A.P. audit
Tell ASC which crops you grow, which markets you ship to and when your buyer expects certification. You will get a scope, an honest view on Option 1 against Option 2, and a quotation against it.
Not ready for a quote? Use Where Do I Start to see which standard your market actually needs, or book a virtual consultation.