Azzule and Sustainable Food Group Announce New Comprehensive Sustainability Certification Audit
March 15, 2018
Santa Maria, CA and Madison, WI – Certification under the newly developed SFG Sustainability Standard™ is now available for producers, handlers, and manufacturers of agricultural products interested in communicating sustainability performance to their buyers. The certification standard uses multiple internationally-recognized environmental, economic, and social welfare measures and may be added as an addendum to food safety audits, saving auditees time and money, or as a stand-alone assessment.
This new certification follows Azzule’s successes with PrimusGFS™ and the Local Farmer Program, and utilizes Azzule’s expertise in audit analytics. The Sustainable Food Group has leveraged its experience and proficiency in building a program that balances the needs of buyers and producers.
Azzule Systems is a leading provider of global data management solutions for agriculture and food handlers, and the scheme owner and developer of the industry-leading PrimusGFS™ food safety audit. The Sustainable Food Group is a project of the IPM Institute of North America, Inc., a non-profit with an 18-year track record of designing science-based programming for food industry leaders to meet the needs of buyers and producers for credible documentation of continuous improvement on key sustainability indicators. Partners include Lamb Weston, McCain Foods, Simplot, Sysco, and Whole Foods Market.
The science-based Standard covers 16 categories recognizing best practices, performance metrics, and continuous improvement. Producers participating in other sustainability programs, including the National Organic Program, Sysco’s Sustainable/Integrated Pest Management Initiative, the Potato Sustainability Initiative, LEAF Marque, and Whole Foods Market Responsibly Grown, can have their already completed efforts recorded within this brand new certification. The Standard also recognizes participant use of consensus tools including Cool Farm Tool for calculating greenhouse gas emissions, select Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops metrics, and the Pesticide Risk Tool™.
Interested producers, handlers, and manufacturers of agricultural products are invited to ask their certification body if this new option can be made available through them. For more information, contact Ali Loker at the Sustainable Food Group in Madison, WI, at 608-2321410 and certification@sustainablefoodgroup.com. You may also contact Courtney Cox and Eric Peterson at Azzule in Santa Maria, CA, at 805-862-4219 or email courtney.cox@azzule.com and eric.peterson@azzule.com. Interested certification bodies and food buyers may also contact any of the above contacts for participation details. The Sustainability Standard is now in public comment period and will continue accepting feedback regarding Standard documents until June 1st, 2018.
