World Grain - June 2011 - 54

FEATURE

COCERAL develops new code
G
rain trading depends on mutual recognition of standards along the food and feed chain. Everybody involved in the chain, from primary producer to consumer, including regulators, needs to know that good practice has been observed throughout the chain. The GTP (Good Trading Practice) code has been developed by the European grain industry body COCERAL, working with traders and lawmakers to make sure that the industry is using a transparent system that all market players can support. “European grain traders are particularly aware of the importance of one single code for operators in the European Union,” Margaretha Minser, president of COCERAL, told World Grain. “Codes of good practice are currently increasing at national and company levels, endangering the free movement of goods by creating potential non-tariff barriers to goods and confusion among operators and consumers,” she said. The European GTP Code is veriﬁed and certiﬁed by independent third-party inspectors. It is based on quality management principles in accordance with HACCP principles. COCERAL placed great emphasis on making sure that the scheme would not just create another level of inspection. “Mutual recognition is key,” said Teresa Babuscio, secretary general of COCERAL. “By benchmarking we have aligned as much as possible the content of different schemes to make sure that they comply with each other.” There was, in her view, no option on that part. “This is not a question of deciding whether to do it or not,” she said. “You have to go through the mutual recognition process.” She stressed that COCERAL has not been playing catch-up. It was one of the ﬁrst bodies to look at setting up a code of practice to cover the grain trading sector. The industry moved before the E.U.’s legislators addressed the subject. “COCERAL started as a founding father before legislation was in force at the European level for food and feed safety,” she said. “We started at our own initiative voluntarily informing the legislator, although this was a private scheme.” Planning started in 1999 in response to the food scares of the 1990s and a ﬁrst concept, based on existing quality assurance
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by Chris Lyddon

Good Trading Practice implemented to ensure grain industry is using transparent system supported by all market players
schemes in the U.K. and the Netherlands, was produced in 2000. “From 1999 to 2001, we were the only example of European initiative,” she said. The ﬁnal draft produced by COCERAL in 2000 was sent to E.U. institutions for consultation and a code was produced. The ﬁrst company was certiﬁed against it in 2001. From 2004 to 2006, with the adoption and the entry into force of the E.U. food and feed hygiene regulations, regulators encouraged the development of guides to good hygiene practice and COCERAL produced a voluntary guide which was endorsed in 2010. Such a guide was jointly produced by COCERAL and COGECA, the European association representing agri-cooperatives, in consultation with the E.U. member states and with the E.U. Commission. Once endorsed by the E.U. authorities, a reference to it was published in the E.U.’s Ofﬁcial Journal, giving it somehow legal standing in spite of its voluntary nature. “For the sake of clarity, the guides and the codes should not be mixed up as they respond to different needs and purposes,” explained Julien Taïeb, COCERAL senior policy advisor. “The guide lays down principles and general objectives to guarantee food and feed safety and may be used as a reference tool by national authorities when they control relevant premises,” he said. “The code is a commercial project to certify companies against a standard which goes further than the guide by providing operators with detailed provisions, allowing them to place on the market safe food and feed products,” he concluded.
June 2011 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - June 2011

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