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About
Graincare |
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The
Development of Graincare |
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How
Graincare works for you |
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The
Principles of Graincare |
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The Scope of Graincare |
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The Elements of Graincare |
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The
Development of
Graincare |
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The GCA consulted
widely with industry stakeholders throughout the development of the Graincare
program.
Following a series of national workshops and consultation around Australia in late
1999 and early 2000, a Drafting Group which comprised of grower representatives,
marketers, grain end-users, bulk handling companies, other quality assurance programs and
government met in mid-March 2000 and finalised Graincare.
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How
Graincare works for you |
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Graincare
recognises
that growers already have a very good record of producing safe grain and aims to be
flexible in not telling growers how they should
manage food and feed safety risks. The program leaves on-farm management decisions
to
growers, as they are experienced in grain production and able to seek specialist advice to
manage a food or feed safety risk if this is required.
Rather than telling growers what to do,
Graincare
provides growers with a simple and effective mechanism for satisfying customer
requirements for food and feed safety quality assurance.
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“Graincare doesn’t tell you how to farm, it
tells everyone else HOW WELL you farm.”
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The Principles
of
Graincare |
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Graincare
was
developed growers in partnership with the
wider grains industry, balancing the need for grower
ownership and control of Graincare
with the need
to ensure that Graincare
meets the requirements
of other industry stakeholders, particularly end-users.
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The principles
of Graincare
include: |
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- Graincare
emphasises grower responsibility and accountability for taking practical and reasonable
steps to minimise on-farm food safety risks.
- Graincare
is voluntary to adopt, cost effective to implement and flexible in meeting the needs and
objectives of growers implementing the system.
- Graincare
recognises existing quality mechanisms, including other on-farm quality assurance programs
and, where possible, these are utilised, providing a simple and practical approach to
on-farm quality assurance.
- Graincare
is a
‘living system’ that is responsive to the changing needs of growers and the
market.
- Graincare
is developed with the aim of achieving, in cooperation with related primary industry
sectors, a modular on-farm quality assurance system appropriate for mixed farm
enterprises.
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The Scope of
Graincare |
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Graincare
is based on HACCP
(Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point)
principles. HACCP is the internationally recognised method of
managing food safety risks and is therefore a critical component of any food safety plan.
Graincare
is structured so that, throughout the
production process, growers are asked:
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- to
identify where a hazard has arisen that could compromise the food or feed safety of the
grain that they are producing;
- identify the most appropriate point
in the production process for implementing a control measure for this hazard so that, at the end of the production
process, the grain is safe to sell; and
- record when a food or feed safety hazard has arisen, any control measures implemented and
the outcome of the control measures implemented.
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For the majority of
grain markets, Graincare,
in focusing on food
and feed safety, satisfies their quality assurance requirements. However, some grain end-users have indicated that
they have additional quality assurance requirements that are unrelated to food safety and
optional Graincare
elements will be developed to
meet these requirements.
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The Elements of
Graincare |
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The Graincare
Code of Practice sets out the
requirements to achieve accreditation under the program. It consists of 13 elements that establish a minimum quality standard for grain
production. |
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The Elements of
Graincare
include:
·
Paddock
selection and preparation
·
Persistent
chemicals in soil
·
Obtaining
and storing chemicals
·
Quality
records
·
Harvesting
and harvest equipment
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Internal
auditing & corrective action
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Paddock,
crop and grain treatment
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Crop
management
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Document
control
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Inputs and
service suppliers
·
On-farm
storage and handling
·
Training
·
Off-farm
transport
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