For Immediate Release:
Washington, DC, August 12, 2019: The Global Retailer and Manufacturer Alliance (GRMA) is excited to announce it has been invited by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) to have its Dietary Supplement (DS) GMP Audit Scheme program benchmarked as part of their safe foods initiative. This will be the first Dietary Supplement Audit Scheme that GFSI has invited to start the benchmarking application process.
The GFSI is composed of the world’s leading food safety experts from retail, manufacturing and food service companies, as well as international organizations, governments, academia and service providers to the global food industry. “It was a pleasure to attend the recent GRMA Summit and present on the GFSI Benchmarking process,” stated Rishi Banerjee, Senior Manager, GFSI US/Canada. “I enjoyed meeting the GRMA members and seeing the commonalities with the origins of the GFSI. The GFSI is focused on delivering safe food to consumers everywhere, and I welcome GRMA’s commitment to the highest quality standards. The GFSI looks forward to GRMA’s continuous improvement and formally invites them to benchmark their Dietary Supplement Program based on NSF/ANSI 455-2 standards to the GFSI scope L benchmark requirements. We look forward to working together to build quality standards.”
The Global Retailer and Manufacturer Alliance (GRMA) is a global nonprofit with members of major retailers, manufacturers, trade associations and certification bodies. The alliance was formed to develop an auditing program that utilized consensus-based, ANSI accredited quality system standards for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) in the Health and Wellness product categories, including Dietary Supplements, Cosmetics and Over the Counter Drugs.
“This is a giant step forward for our industry and helping to advance consumer confidence,” stated GRMA Board President Mike Finamore, who is also the CEO of Gemini Pharmaceuticals. “It is one more brick in the foundation of strong supply chain accountability.”
GRMA, which uses the NSF/ANSI 455-2 Standard as the base of its audit scheme, has been working diligently to build capacity as it rolls out the DS GMP Audit alongside several partner Certification Bodies (CBs). These CBs are also working toward ANSI accreditation for the GRMA DS Audit Program. “The GRMA has been putting forth significant resources toward the submission of our GFSI application,” stated Finamore. “Our retail and manufacturing partners are very excited to have our audit scheme globally benchmarked, gaining worldwide recognition.”
To learn more about the GRMA, visit www.grmalliance.org, or contact Randy Slikkers at rslikkers@grmalliance.org.
To learn more about GFSI, visit https://www.mygfsi.com/
GRMA
Randall G. Slikkers, CEO
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202-587-5647