Good Livestock Practices

The certification, private demand for differential access to market.

By Eng. Pedro A. Landa, Director OIA
Posted in Anuario 2011 Merino.

Quality, value, safety, traceability and sustainability are terms that define today's consumer choice and therefore their stay in the markets. How does ensures and assesses the consumer these attributes in the products that consumes? Through the purchase of certified products. Today there are different types of certification programs and options that give assurance of value to adjust or adapt to different production systems and products.

Faced with the need to satisfy consumer demand and to reduce risks, ensuring food safety, in primary production is applied Good Livestock Practices (GLP), protocols established in the GlobalG.A.P as a system of quality management and in organic production protocols for the production of organic sheep meat and wool. The certification of these protocols provides guarantees to consumers about the characteristics of a product or system.

What aspects take part of various protocols including GLP?: Traceability, production techniques, environmental protection, hygiene aspects, ensuring food safety, and social aspects, focusing on a suitable work environment, commensurate with job requirements and health workers involved in the chain.

One of the main objectives of the protocols that include BPG is to reduce risk, ensure quality and food safety in primary production, focusing on implementing best practices for sustainable production. With the implementation and certification of these protocols is achieved an improvement in the administrative and productive management of the establishment, reducing production costs by better management, with an impact on improved business management.

GlobalG.A.P program principles are based on the following concepts:

• Food Safety: The regulation is based on criteria of food security, which derives from the application of general principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points).
• Health, safety and occupational welfare: Establish a global health criteria and safety in the field, as well as greater awareness and responsibility for social issues. However, it does not replace a specific audit on corporate social responsibility.
• Animal welfare: The regulation establishes standards of animal welfare.
• Environmental Protection: The regulation is to implement the Good Agricultural and Livestock for environmental protection, generated to minimize the negative impact on the environment.

In short, implementation of management systems for protocols recognized by the market for producers to demonstrate their commitment to: maintaining consumer confidence in food safety and quality, minimize environmental impact, preserving nature and wildlife; reduce or eliminate the use of agrochemicals, improve efficiency in the use of natural resources and ensuring accountability and attitude toward safety and health of workers.

Highlights comprising organic production standards: food, health, animal handling, records, origin of animals, sustainable ecosystem management

Issues include GlobalG.A.P standards:

• Hygienic aspects to avoid chemical contamination, physical and biological, ensuring food safety.
• Traceability, ensuring follow-up throughout the food chain.
• Production techniques with the aim of controlled use of agrochemicals, to minimize the impact of residues in food, the man and his environment.
• Social aspects, focusing on an appropriate work environment and health workforce needs of the workers involved in the chain.
• Protection of the environment.

GlobalG.A.P Protocol Modules.

GLOBALG.AP Protocol is segmented into modules, based on a module basis for all kinds of farm and annexed modules depending on the production. Therefore, if a rancher wants to certify sheep GLOBALG.AP must meet the basic module for all types of farming, animal base module and module cattle and sheep.

Ensuring our product and the way how we produce is no longer limited to certain products or producers, but involves all actors in the food chain, creating the responsibility to train and implement a quality system, security and control for their production.

Source: Asociación Argentina Criadores de Merino