Achieving sustainability goals together - with QS
In the fruit, vegetable and potato value chain, the issue of sustainability is increasingly becoming a differentiation criterion and a perspective for entrepreneurial action, resulting in a high demand for the development of uniform solutions that are accepted throughout the industry.
As a cross-stage inspection system for fresh food and a central industry platform, QS is developing a uniform, user-friendly solution approach for the entire value chain of fruit, vegetables and potatoes with the sustainability standard Voluntary QS Inspection Sustainability (FIN).
Voluntary Inspection Sustainability
The QS sustainability concept has a modular structure. This means that participating companies and enterprises can individually select the fields of action that are suitable for them, depending on their needs and possibilities.
In a first step, experts from science, consulting and practice have developed the Sustainability Check and Biodiversity modules together with QS for the production stage and the Sustainability Check and Sustainability Management System modules for the food retail and wholesale stages. The modules are based on supporting documents that provide valuable support for companies during implementation.
All advantages at a glance
- Voluntary modules with practicable supporting documents for production, wholesale and food retail
- User-friendly and also suitable for smaller farms/companies and as an introduction to the topic of sustainability
- Inspection should be possible together with the regular QS audit without influencing the result of the QS audit
- Company commitment is documented and can be used for communication purposes
- Modules take into account support programmes for sustainability at producer level
- Increasing the value of the product
- Additional support through seminars offered by the QS-Akademy
We prepare you for sustainability
Supporting documents and practical tips provide assistance for individual company implementation:
- … in the implementation of digital company checks for the company-specific overall classification of individual sustainability issues
- … in the implementation of concrete measures in defined fields of action (e.g. biodiversity)
- … in the implementation of a sustainability management system in the business/company (wholesale / food retail)
Voluntary QS Inspection Sustainability - Current Status
Currently, the practical suitability of the modules developed so far is tested in pretests at companies. The modules will be adapted according to the feedback from the pre-tests and integrated into the guideline Voluntary QS Inspection Sustainability
. In a second step, QS will develop further modules and supporting documents for the fields of action climate, energy and water.
Contact
Dr. Annette Förschler
- Tel: +49 (0) 228 35068-172
- Fax: +49 (0) 228 35068-16172
