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INFO LETTER
Fruit, vegetables and potatoes
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Issue: 02/2012
Quality Assurance.
From farm to shop.
Marketing
and
in-
house production are
the two supporting
pillars of Gemüsering
Stuttgart. Founded in
1991 as a pure mar-
keting company, the
business has acquired
a leading market po-
sition in the meantime as an outdoor and
greenhouse producer. National marketing
focuses mainly on the food retail sector and
regional supply. The responsible heads of
quality management are Karin Riesterer and
Dr. Thorsten Strissel.
By maintaining their
own cultivation areas
and processing plants, Gemüsering Stuttgart en-
sures that tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, cucumber
cauliflower, cabbage and many other vegetable
varieties are continuously available.
The Gemüsering group employs a workforce of
more than 900. Part of the corporate philosophy
is to supply customers with outstandingly good
quality, which means that quality assurance
plays a vital role within the company. “The motto
of our quality assurance in the company is ‘qua-
lity begins before the seeds are sown’,” empha-
sizes Dr. Thomas Strissel.
Dr. Strissel, where does the main focus of
your quality assurance lie?
We want to ensure product safety even before
the harvest. This requires good communication
with the producer businesses, within the group
and with the customer regarding details of gro-
wing conditions, for example, or external infor-
mation.
Microbiology is playing an increasingly
more important role. Has this shifted the
focus of your efforts?
Annual Report
QS presented the Annual Report
2011/2012 at the annual con-
ference in Frankfurt/Main. The
report gives an overview of the
occurrences and activities of the
past year and provides an outlook of the current
year. The report focuses mainly on antibiotics
monitoring, spot audits and QS-live. The motto
of the annual report is “Food you can trust”.
10 Years with QS: Dr.
Iris Rudat-Schwarz
and Robert Römer
In April we were able to
celebrate the company’s
tenth anniversary with Dr. Iris Rudat-Schwarz, head
of Internal Quality Management at QS, and Mr. Ro-
bert Römer, who is responsible for Slaughtering/
Deboning and Food Retail. Both of them have
accompanied the development of the QS scheme
practically from the beginning.
GlobalG.A.P. gives confirmation for QS-GAP
For the third time now, QS Qualität und Sicher-
heit GmbH has benchmarked its QS-GAP stan-
dard with GlobalG.A.P. With the confirmation,
the Benchmarking Committee of GlobalG.A.P.
certifies anew that QS-GAP satisfies all of the
GlobalG.A.P. requirements for the production
of fruit, vegetables and potatoes. This means
that in the future too, QS-GAP certified producer
businesses can deliver their produce into both
schemes with only one certificate.
+++ NEWS
IN BRIEF
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NEWS
IN BRIEF
+++ NEWS
IN BRIEF
+++ NEWS
IN BRIEF
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IN BRIEF
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The development of participant numbers is
pleasing. In the past 12 months, the number of
scheme participants has risen once again and
has exceeded the mark of 24,000 in the supply
chain Fruit, Vegetables and Potatoes. The vast
majority of our new scheme participants come
from central and southern Europe.
SCHEME PARTICIPANTS AND MARKETS
LATEST FIGURES
A SCHEME PARTICIPANT
GEMÜSERING STUTTGART
We conduct tests along the entire chain, thus
acquiring valuable information on possible mi-
crobial dangers. The risk is relatively low for un-
processed products in the areas of production
and trading. We work with care and remain vi-
gilant. The new QS preparation guideline serves
as a benchmark for all measures. We also see an
important basis for safe products in the field of
operational and staff hygiene.
Where do you see the special tasks of
quality management in the future?
Quite clearly in the recognition of customer de-
mands as early as possible. From the knowledge
gained in past years, we are achieving improve-
ments selectively in regard to product quality
and hygiene management. The focus here is on
microbiological monitoring and temperature ma-
nagement during the transport of goods.
1
Of which:
Producers with QS-GAP certification: 6,271 (+185)
Producers with recognized GlobalG.A.P. certification: 2,765 (+193)
Producers with recognized IKKB certification: 2,233 (+335)
IMPRINT
QS Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH
Dr. Hermann-Josef Nienhoff (responsible)
Schedestraße 1-3, 53113 Bonn
Phone:
+49 (0) 228 35068-0
Fax:
+49 (0) 228 35068-10
Email:
info@q-s.de
Internet:
www.q-s.de
Photo credits: QS-Archiv, Fotolia
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Stage
Total
24,047
Of which abroad
4,556
Production
1
- Fruit, vegetables
- Potatoes
12,573
9,823
2,750
4,194
4,168
26
Wholesale
690
162
Food Retail
10,784
200