The maintenance of a high and consistent standard of the audit and certification are essential to confi-dence in the scheme and to the value of the certification. The Danish Agriculture & Food Council (DAFC) therefore monitors the performance of Certification Bodies to supplement the work of Accreditation Bod-ies and ensure high standards are maintained.
The DAFC do not undertake audits themselves, but license this task to approved third party Certification Bodies who must be independently accredited by a accreditation body to audit against the Global Red Meat Standard.
The key aim of the management of the Global Red Meat Standard is to ensure integrity and consistency of the audit and certification process for all users. This means that an audit should be carried out in the same way, irrespective of country of production, Certification Body or auditor.
Rules and guidance are laid down detailing the responsibilities of the Certification Body and auditors, and adherence and understanding to those rules are monitored by the GRMS Secretariat.
The performance of Certification Bodies is formally reviewed annually.
The five key areas assessed are:
- Quality of audit reports - a sample of audit reports is reviewed
- Compliance to protocols (how audits are undertaken and reported)
- Issue of audit reports and certificates (within defined timeline)
- Communication with the DAFC
- Communication with auditors
All Certification Bodies which are approved and appear listed on this web page operate satisfactorily. Those where performance is in doubt would have sanctions instigated against them.
The aim of the performance monitoring is to ensure continuous improvement and the DAFC will require an action plan to be submitted and demonstrated by the Certification Body in case of unsatisfactory performance.
Feedback and referrals from users of the scheme provides a valuable input for ensuring the scheme is working in practice.