Press release
, François-Xavier Branthôme
The additional module of the GLOBALG.A.P. Standard concerns the assessment of the social aspects associated with the activities of the workers in the industry
For the second consecutive year, the farms associated with Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro have been certified G.R.A.S.P. (Risk Assessment on Social Practice), an additional module of the GLOBALG.A.P. (Good Agricultural Practices) standard, focused on the social aspects connected with the activities of agricultural workers to assess the risk of bad practices.
Good practices, indeed, do not concern only the raw material, but also its farmers. For this reason, since 2009 all the Casalasco farms have been certified in compliance with the GLOBALG.A.P. standard.
G.R.A.S.P., which is the acronym of GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice, is a voluntary module developed to assess the application of good social practices in farms, like for example the protection of workers’ health and safety and welfare.
Particularly, the module concentrates on several key topics:
• Worker representation,
• Legal rights and access to national laws on labour law,
• Written documentation, represented by contracts, payroll and salary definition,
• Rights of minors,
• Labour hours (on the basis of national agreements).
Since 2020, all of the farms that are direct partners of Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro have subscribed to the implementation of the module, which is required by the main mass market operators and main retail chains, always very aware of the issues of welfare and good social practices adopted by their suppliers.
The configuration of the Consorzio, with the farms covering the double role of co-owners and suppliers of the raw material, allows for a level of control and integration between the agricultural and processing phase, which is not found in the industrial chain. The Agronomic Management oversees the entire chain of production through its technicians, in order to obtain high qualitative standards and to ensure that consumers receive a product that is harvested and transformed within 24 hours.
Sources: Casalasco del Pomodoro Consortium Soc. Agr. Coop
