Good Storage and Distribution Practices (GSDP) Certification Program
Protecting the integrity of food supply chain through proper storage and distribution of food practices is an integral part of any robust food safety management system. It is clear from the recent developments that the distribution sector of the food chain will be required to demonstrate compliance to Good Distribution Practices (GDP).
Realizing the importance of storage and distribution practices in food safety, the Food and Drug Administration has established requirements for shippers, loaders, carriers by motor vehicle and rail vehicle, and receivers engaged in the transportation of food, including food for animals, to use sanitary transportation practices to ensure the safety of the food they transport. This is part of FDA’s implementation of the Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 2005 (2005 SFTA) and the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 (FSMA). This rule creates new requirements for the sanitary transportation of human and animal food by motor vehicle and rail vehicle to ensure that transportation practices do not create food safety risks. This rule impacts more than 80,000 food shippers, carriers and receivers in the country and may require significant changes to the current procedures followed by food logistics companies.
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is also focusing on improving the food safety practices at the food product storage and distribution level. The four GFSI benchmarked standards, BRCGS Global Standard for Storage and Distribution, SQF Code for Storage and Distribution (Ed.8), International Featured Standard (IFS) for Logistics and FSSC 22000 standard for Storage and Transport are ideally suited for this purpose.
However, many food storage and distribution companies new to the GFSI standards for Storage and Distribution and also to FDA Sanitary Transportation Act may like to implement the basic requirements of Good Storage and Distribution Practices (GSDP) as a first step. Keeping this requirement in mind PJRFSI has launched a certification program to certify storage and distribution companies to the newly developed GSDP program.
- Name of Certification Program: Good Storage and Distribution Practices (GSDP)
- Audit Duration: 1-2 days; varies, depending on the size & number of employees
- Certificate Validity: Annual
- Target Clients: Dedicated warehouses/distribution centers; Transportation companies
- Deliverable: A certificate of conformance to Good Storage and Distribution Practice (GSDP)