Good Agriculture & Collection Practices
G.A.C.P. Certification
Safety, Quality Assurance and Traceability tailored for the Canadian Herb, Spice, Specialty Ag, Natural Health Products, Hemp and Wild Collected Products Industries.
For wild harvesters and farmers alike, day-to-day operations are often all-consuming. Even though producing a high quality, safe product is your top priority, proving it is not always that easy. It is both difficult and critical to show others the evidence of your hard work.
GACPs are a tool that can help.
In Canada, industry has in place Good Agriculture and Collection Practices (GACPs). CHSNC (Herb, Specialty Agriculture and Natural Health Product Coalition) and HSSA (Herb, Spice and Specialty Agriculture Association) have worked with Health Canada, Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to develop internationally recognized, auditable and certified GACP standards for Specialty Agriculture. These protocols meld seamlessly with existing or pending Good Production Practices (GPP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) up the chain.
Canada’s industry-owned GACPs are also included as one of CFIA’s On-farm food safety program and are subject to a review of change process by CFIA every 18 months. The program covers production practices from field and greenhouse to finished product–assuring that quality assurance, product safety and traceability are in place–essential for recalls and compliance. Canada’s GACPs have been benchmarked against the EU GACPs and exceed their standards, have mutual recognition with the United States GACPs (American Herbal Products Association) and were built with the support of the World Health Organization.