The GFSI Global Markets Capacity Building Programme and Protocol
The Global Markets Capacity Building Programme project reportedly “began in 2008 after output from the annual GFSI stakeholder meeting clearly identified the need for technical assistance and support for small and/or less developed businesses in the development of their food safety management systems.”
Some links to mygfsi.com website for additional information are provided at the end of this post.
Through this post, I invite you to share some insights that you may have with the group. The questions below may help to shed further helpful light on these programs for SMEs, less developed businesses or cash strapped operations.
I am sure that your contributed answers to these questions will be appreciated by those who may want to, but are hesitant to ask these questions. A good place to start is with one question that was already asked in the FAQs provided on the website (mygfsi.com).
Question: Who is the programme aimed at?
Answer: The programme is aimed at small and/or less developed businesses that because of their size, lack of technical expertise, economic resources or the nature of their work encounter difficulties in implementing HACCP in their food business. When referring to a ‘less developed business’ we refer to the status of the food safety management system and NOT to the number of staff or volume of production.
The answer to this question presents some debilitating realities facing SMEs:“because of their size, lack of technical expertise, economic resources or the nature of their work encounter difficulties in implementing HACCP in their foodbusiness. “
Questions for discussion:
1. What are some suggestions for SMEs to follow in overcoming these debilitating realities?
2. The stated aim of the Global Markets Capacity Building Programme mentions the “need for technical assistance and support”. What is the nature of the assistance and/or support that is to be expected by the SMEs or less developed businesses? How is this assistance and/or support to be delivered, by whom, when, etc.?
It was also explained in another FAQ that the ‘Global Markets Capacity Building Programme’ is “. . . a tool for small and/or less developed businesses to continuously improve their food safety programmes to achieve product safety requirements in a phased approach and ultimately gain certification against one of the GFSI recognized schemes.”
3. Do and must all roads lead to ultimate certification?
Although a process of assessment and ultimate certification appears to be inextricably tied to the GMCBP program, I would suggest the answer to be “NO” for this question. The GMCBP tool is very useful for developing food safety management systems but it can and may be used without necessarily proceeding to certification. What do you think?
List of documents that are available for download:
http://www.mygfsi.com/structure-and-governance/gfsi-technical-committee/gfsi-global-markets-working-group/65.html
The Protocol Flowchart:
http://www.mygfsi.com/gfsifiles/GFSI_Global_Markets_Protocol_Flowchart.pdf
I am glad to know that this may be of some help to you.
I was working toward getting my company BRC certified, and I know BRC has that enrolment program...where the business gets a "pre-audit" before they actually receive the real certificate and score. I'm curious how this GFSI program will fit into BRC's enrolment....hmm. Hopefully I will find an answer to these questions in my further readings. Thank you for this thread by the way!
I shared this post in another forum and I think that some of you folk here may also have some insightful input. Others may find the discussion useful.
The Global Markets Capacity Building Programme project reportedly “began in 2008 after output from the annual GFSI stakeholder meeting clearly identified the need for technical assistance and support for small and/or less developed businesses in the development of their food safety management systems.”
Some links to mygfsi.com website for additional information are provided at the end of this post.
Through this post, I invite you to share some insights that you may have with the group. The questions below may help to shed further helpful light on these programs for SMEs, less developed businesses or cash strapped operations.
I am sure that your contributed answers to these questions will be appreciated by those who may want to, but are hesitant to ask these questions. A good place to start is with one question that was already asked in the FAQs provided on the website (mygfsi.com).
Question: Who is the programme aimed at?
Answer: The programme is aimed at small and/or less developed businesses that because of their size, lack of technical expertise, economic resources or the nature of their work encounter difficulties in implementing HACCP in their food business. When referring to a ‘less developed business’ we refer to the status of the food safety management system and NOT to the number of staff or volume of production.
The answer to this question presents some debilitating realities facing SMEs:“because of their size, lack of technical expertise, economic resources or the nature of their work encounter difficulties in implementing HACCP in their foodbusiness. “
Questions for discussion:
1. What are some suggestions for SMEs to follow in overcoming these debilitating realities?
2. The stated aim of the Global Markets Capacity Building Programme mentions the “need for technical assistance and support”. What is the nature of the assistance and/or support that is to be expected by the SMEs or less developed businesses? How is this assistance and/or support to be delivered, by whom, when, etc.?
It was also explained in another FAQ that the ‘Global Markets Capacity Building Programme’ is “. . . a tool for small and/or less developed businesses to continuously improve their food safety programmes to achieve product safety requirements in a phased approach and ultimately gain certification against one of the GFSI recognized schemes.”
3. Do and must all roads lead to ultimate certification?
Although a process of assessment and ultimate certification appears to be inextricably tied to the GMCBP program, I would suggest the answer to be “NO” for this question. The GMCBP tool is very useful for developing food safety management systems but it can and may be used without necessarily proceeding to certification. What do you think?
List of documents that are available for download:
http://www.mygfsi.com/structure-and-governance/gfsi-technical-committee/gfsi-global-markets-working-group/65.html
The Protocol Flowchart:
http://www.mygfsi.com/gfsifiles/GFSI_Global_Markets_Protocol_Flowchart.pdf
Strange how things worked I posted this about the same time. Feedback would still be appreciated.
Hi All
Does anyone in the forum have any practical experience using or working with this programme (GMCBP).
Also I would appreciate any opinions that anyone might have about whether this programme (basic and intermediate) can be considered suitable as an auditable standard (considering that at basic level is complies with 30% of the GFSI requirements and at intermediate level 70%) for suppliers to retailers.
Regards
Cobus
If you enjoy travelling, some practical experiences including case histories are being presented at GFSI conference in March / 2013in Barcelona, see -
GFSI NEWSLETTER CONF. 2013 SPECIAL EDITION pg 1-30.pdf 10.57MB 2 downloads
GFSI NEWSLETTER CONF. 2013 SPECIAL EDITION pg 31-36.pdf 9.24MB 1 downloads
(split file due too big to upload)
Maybe the specific item (eg breakout3 sub-forum, etc) details will be published sometime.
Some ongoing info regarding current implementation is also given on GFSI website.
(I daresay you knew that already
Rgds / Charles.C
PS - For other readers benefit, yr original thread was -
http://www.ifsqn.com...dpost__p__55770
I guess this is a sort of 6-month BUMP.