Having a Big Impact on Smaller Suppliers with the Global Markets Awards

Now in their third year, the GFSI Global Markets Awards are widely seen as the hallmark of success in the food industry around the world. The awards – which Greenfence is proud to sponsor – are designed to encourage companies who lack – or who may have less sophisticated food safety systems – overcome the challenge of food safety, while simultaneously reducing hazards in global food supply chains and improving market access through certification against one of the GFSI-recognised certification programmes.

As we get ready for the Awards Ceremony during Plenary 3 at 0930 hrs on Wednesday 27 February at the GFSI Conference in Nice, it is a good moment for us to reflect on some of the major impacts that these awards have on those smaller – but still vitally important – suppliers serving global supply chains.

Trust

Trust underpins everything we do within the food sector to ensure the delivery of safe food for consumers everywhere; the awards are a clear driver for trust, as 2018 Winner Kashif Elahi, CEO Nuts and Legumes Co. explains; “Recognising our commitment to food safety, Metro Pakistan introduced us to the GFSI Global Markets Programme which is internationally acclaimed and helps build trust in stakeholders for food safety. We set ourselves the target of achieving the GFSI-recognised FFSC22000 certification as it provides a comprehensive system of assessment of food production at every stage in the production cycle, from monitoring of incoming materials, to packaging and delivery to the consumer.”

Certification

Certification to a GFSI-recognised standard demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to food safety and is often a prerequisite to trade, as our own Petra Wissenburg, Senior Vice President of Global Brands here at Greenfence explains; “The awards are a means to incentivise companies to prepare their organisations and obtain GFSI-recognised certification, accelerating the growth and reach of GFSI across the globe.  Every year, more organisations are not only submitting applications, but, more importantly, starting the journey to be certified against one of the GFSI-recognised food safety programmes.”

Recognition

When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rises, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work. Praise and recognition are essential to an outstanding workplace. People want to be respected and valued by others for their contribution as our 2018 Winner – Mr Elahi – again explains; “Receiving the award was a very proud moment and recognition of years of hard work for the whole team. It was an amazing achievement for a small company from Pakistan having competed in the world’s most populous continent.”

Improvements

Continual improvement should underpin any organisation and their management system, and that’s where the Global Markets Awards can help.  2018 Winner Gabriel Barreda Ortega from the Asociaciones Agroindustriales Serranas S.A. de C.V. explained that his team were sceptical at first about improvements, but they soon changed their minds; “On 29 May 2017, Nestle Mexico invited Asociaciones Agroindustriales Serranas S.A. de C.V.’s (Serranas) top management to participate in the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Global Markets Programme. Initially, our employees were sceptical about the issue of food safety. It was difficult to cover the basic level of the Programme and especially detect areas of improvement for the Programme’s intermediate level. However, after an adaptation period, the Serranas team demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment to adopt the Programme and implement it.”

Mr Ortega went on to add, “Having a self-assessment tool for the Global Markets Programme allowed us to design an internal management system for quality and food safety. In this continuous improvement process, along with the support of senior management, we achieved a work system which embedded the philosophy of food safety throughout the entire organisation.”

Market Access

With transparency and traceability sitting at the heart of food supply chain safety, certification to GFSI recognised standards is a fundamental way to demonstrate to external stakeholders that you are committed to quality, processes and continual improvement.  As mentioned, certification to particular standards and schemes is often required when appointing suppliers and the many benefits arising from the Global Markets Awards include the key one of being able to access certification programmes that now only improve performance and reduce risk, but they deliver market access, or a ‘ticket to trade’ if you like.

Another 2018 winner, Bamikole Sunday, who is the Quality Assurance Manager/ FST Leader for Plantation Industries Limited based in Akure, Nigeria explains.  “Achieving GFSI-recognised certification has given Plantation Industries Limited a boost in cocoa processing and has allowed us to be more competitive in the market. Overall, 90% of customers supporting our cocoa products have specifically done so due to our FSSC 22000 certification. FSSC 22000 is a mandatory requirement without which suppling to the big players in the food industry would not have been possible. Also, several customer assessment and reassessment audits have been held successfully as a result of being certified to FSSC 22000. The Plantation Industries Limited team looks forward to continuing our food safety journey in line with the GFSI vision of safe food for consumers everywhere.”

Culture

When employees, managers, and leaders feel personally committed to food safety, they will do the right thing even when nobody is watching, even when it is not the cheapest or fastest approach. A strong organisational culture can help create and sustain that commitment. Over time, good food safety practices become the normal way of doing things and a source of personal pride.  This is the case for Fuji Foods Co., Ltd, another winner from 2018 as.Factory Manager Koutaro SATOU explains; “Before starting this training, individual workers showed variations in cleaning standards.  In order to close the gap between them, and to verify the effectiveness of each individual’s cleaning performance, we started to take greater notice of such things like measuring residual protein and providing feedback on the final results from a third party. This led to all employees being more conscious of the required level of food safety, enhanced sanitary conditions of machines in the factory, and improvements on the microorganism level.

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About Greenfence

Greenfence is the first self-serve, enterprise blockchain ecosystem servicing farm to fork value chains and TIC industry services. The control to quickly and cost-effectively build and manage complex supply chains and compliance now lies in the hands of each participant, not the IT specialist, establishing the integrity of assets, processes, data and certification on the blockchain, protecting brand equity and securing consumer trust.