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NSF Opens Costa Rica Office
NSF International opened an office in Costa
Rica to provide food safety auditing,
certification, consulting and training
services to growers, manufacturers,
suppliers and retailers.
NSF Costa Rica will help businesses meet new
global food safety regulatory requirements,
food safety certification services and
sustainability solutions.
Food exports from Latin America and the
Caribbean comprise $66 billion or 12 percent
of the world’s total food trade. This figure
could increase rapidly over the coming
decades if food safety and quality standards
are improved, according to the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) and the World Health
Organization (WHO). Safeguarding the world’s
food supply requires collaboration among the
government and the entire food industry,
including retailers and manufacturers and
third-party auditing bodies.
“With offices throughout North and South
America, Europe and the Asia Pacific and now
Central America, we are well positioned to
help international clients as they source
food products from Latin America. We look
forward to expanding our services in this
area to the produce, organic, seafood,
manufacturing, distribution and retail
sectors,” said Tom Chestnut, NSF
International vice president of food safety
and quality.
Included among NSF International’s services
is certification to the Global Food Safety
Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standards.
This is essential as several of the world’s
largest food companies have chosen to
mandate compliance with one of the GFSI-benchmarked
standards, including British Retail
Consortium (BRC), Safe Quality Food (SQF),
GlobalGAP (Good Agricultural Practices),
International Food Standard (IFS) and Food
Safety System Certification (FSSC). NSF’s
sustainability services, such as greenhouse
gas verification, carbon footprinting and
environmental management systems
registration, will also be offered.
“Our NSF Costa Rica office will enable NSF
to better serve the growing number of
processors and manufacturers in Latin
America who are exporting their products to
the United States," said Kevan P. Lawlor,
NSF International president and CEO. “The
new office will also help businesses in
Central America and the Caribbean meet the
increasing demand for food safety and
certification services in this region.” |
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