Buyer requirements to access international markets for food and beverage

Food safety management systems

As food safety is a top priority in food trade, you can expect many players to request extra guarantees from you in the form of system certification. Many international buyers (e.g. traders, food processors, retailers) require the implementation of a (HACCP-based) food safety management system. The most important food safety management systems are

• Global Gap
• BRC
• IFS
• FSSC22000
• SQF
• Read more on the different Food Safety Management Systems at the ITC Standards Map

Corporate Social Responsibility

Food buyers pay more and more attention to their corporate responsibilities regarding the social and environmental impact of their business. This also affects you as a supplier. Common requirements are the signing of a suppliers’ code of conduct in which you declare that you do your business in a responsible way, meaning that you (and your suppliers) respect local environmental and labour laws, stay away from corruption etc. The Code of Conduct of the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) is one of the most widely used Codes worldwide.

• Read more about social corporate responsibility in the fruit juice industry The Fruit Juice CSR Platform
• Be aware that many of the environmental and social sustainability issues take place at farm level. To test to what extent your farmers are sustainable you could ask them to fill in the Farmer Self Assessment by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative
• Implementing a management system such as ISO14001(environmental aspects), OHSAS 18001 (occupational health and safety), ISO 26000 (a comprehensive system including all social responsibility aspects) or SA 8000 (labour and working conditions) is a good way to address sustainability and possibly gain a competitive advantage