Food supply - safe and fresh

Below, you will find an overview of the production scopes that are assigned to the stage Wholesale/Logistics Fruit, Vegetables, Potatoes:

Wholesaler having direct (physical) contact with the goods

• First-Line merchant (81)
  First-Line merchant of goods are all companies which purchase goods directly from producers and thereby register the goods on the market for the first time.
• Trading partner (82)
  A trading partner of goods is any company which operates in the market between the first-line merchant and food retail and therefore procures its goods exclusively from upstream companies. If the company purchases some of its goods directly from growers, it is considered a first-line merchant.

Agencies:

• exclusively carry out trading and marketing activities
• No direct (physical) contact with the goods
• Owner of the purchased goods or buyer of the goods in order to further commercialization
  • First-Line merchant (801)
    First-Line merchant of goods are all companies which purchase goods directly from producers and thereby register the goods on the market for the first time.
  • Trading partner (802)
    A trading partner of goods is any company which operates in the market between the first-line merchant and food retail and therefore procures its goods exclusively from upstream companies. If the company purchases some of its goods directly from growers, it is considered a first-line merchant.

Service provider (82)

• engaged in activities within the meaning of the wholesale trade (e.g. storage, sorting, packing)
• Do NOT become owner of the goods

Logistics companies (84)

• Service provider activities: road transport, short-term storage for the purpose of transshipment of the goods during delivery, long-term storage, order picking, rough/healthy sorting
• Do NOT become owner of the goods

Broker (-)

• Only assume a mediating function between suppliers and recipients.
• Neither owner nor holder of the goods
• No issuing of invoices for fruit, vegetables and potatoes
• NO QS-PARTICIPATION

Since January 2020, QS goods in the QS supply chain fruit, vegetables and potatoes must be labelled with an identification number of the producer deposited in the QS database. In certain cases, an identification number of the packing location deposited in the QS database can be used instead of the producer number.

The labelling can be done either directly on the label of the goods (or box label) or in the delivery notes/accompanying documents.

The following figure clearly shows the requirement (Please click on the picture to enlarge).

An additional registration and certification for the stage Preparation/Processing Fruit, Vegetables, Potatoes must be obtained if your company prepares or processes products (this includes the following processes: shredding, peeling, grating, slicing, pureeing, staining, freezing, heating, canning production, sprout production) and wishes to market these goods as QS goods.

Your company can be certified according to the QS Guideline Wholesale Fruit, Vegetables, Potatoes if it can be assigned to one of the following categories:

• Wholesalers (with physical contact with goods) who become the owner of the goods
• Agencies (without having a direct (physical) contact with the goods) that become owner of the goods or that are buyer of the goods in order to further commercialization
• Service provider with product handling who do not become the owner of the goods (e.g. packing companies)

If your company is a logistics company that exclusively transports and/or stores goods and does not become the owner of the goods, the relevant guideline is the QS Guideline Logistics Fruit, Vegetables, Potatoes.