September 17, 2007

Brazil's Sindiracoes to officially issue feed and food certification

Brazilian meat packers can now acquire global recognition certificate for feed and food safety from Brazil's national animal feed industry association Sindiracoes.

The certificate is seen to help meat processors to achieve a breakthrough in launching exports to international markets, such as the European Union (EU). The certification process meets the requirements of EU legislation.

The certification -- which is under Brazil's Programme for Feed and Food Safety programme -- has been approved as equivalent to the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EurepGap). It has three main certification levels, namely Certificate of Good Production Practices, Certificate on Control of Dangers and Critical Situations and Certificate of International Equivalence.

Sindiracoes has already certified two large Brazilian meat producers, namely Seara and Tortuga, with the highest Certification of International Equivalence level in August 2007.

According to Rosemary Bichara, Sindiracoes' good practices coordinator, a certified company can "almost instantly" benefit from better organisation of work, higher productivity, cost reduction and control and process optimisation. In addition, the certification will also help companies in their negotiations with suppliers and clients and to access new markets, where having such management systems certificate is a must.