DNV, an independent management systems certification foundation, recently announced a major push into the U.S. food safety market, signing partner agreements with veteran food-safety firms ASI Food Safety Consultants and Seacrest International. Along with its existing resources, these new collaborations will enable DNV to offer the widest suite of supply chain certifications and safety assurance programs in the US food industry.
"Everyone is seeking a higher level of confidence in the food supply chain," says Richard Stolk, President of DNV Industry North America. "Working with Seacrest and ASI will allow us to offer the widest set of quality certifications to companies involved in the production, packaging and distribution of US food products."
The rising number of food contamination events – along with new quality mandates from major retailers – are driving demand for wider adoption of food safety standards. Earlier this year Wal-Mart became the first nationwide US grocery chain to require suppliers to have their factories certified against one of the internationally recognized Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards.
GFSI is emerging as the unifying framework for various standards and programs aimed at ensuring the safety and quality of food.
"Joining forces with DNV will allow us to deliver more certification services to more customers and to affect positive change within the industry," says Tom Hugé, president of ASI Food Safety Consultants. "This is a perfect partnership for all of us."
Working with its partners, DNV is the first food safety registrar in the US to provide certification against all four GFSI standards using local resources spread across the nation.
For more information visit www.dnv.com.