HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR MASS BALANCE
HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR MASS BALANCE
It is harvest time for many fresh produce commodities and a lot of GLOBALG.A.P. audits are taking place during this time of the year. For auditors to be able to verify product quantity mass balance when at site if vital for the integrity of the GLOBALG.A.P. certification program.
The GLOBALG.A.P. compliance criteria requires that the producer has a way to continually do their own mass balance assessment on all the product that is tied to the GLOBALG.A.P. certification. Having this detailed overview of production quantities is considered an essential business practice for most producers, as they would be generating various forms of mass balance information for their internal uses regardless of certification.
In preparation for the GLOBALG.A.P. auditors to be able to verify mass balance per product produced, the producers need to be able to answer the following questions:
1.) For each product, how does the operation quantify the amount grown/harvested (e.g., bushels, pounds, cartons, count, bins, tons)? What do these records look like?
2.) For each product, how are the delivered/sold products quantified (may be the same or different quantification than harvest)? What do these records look like?
3.) How are grown/harvested quantities and delivered/sold quantities correlated (e.g., 35 pounds = 1 carton)? How is this shown in the records?
4.) Do any waste/culls occur between harvest and delivery/sale? How is this quantified?
5.) Does any product remain in storage at any time? How is this quantified and recorded?
One example of a Mass Balance calculator that can be found online and modified to fit your operation is at:
NEW VERSIONS ON THE HORIZON:
IFA V6 SMART
Published and available (except for Combinable Crops) OBLIGATORY JANUARY 1, 2024
IFA V6 GFS
Fruits & Vegetables continue to
use v5.4-1 for GFSI until ANTICIPATED OBLIGATORY DATE MAY 2024
HPSS & PHA v1.3
Expected to be released in 2022. ANTICIPATED OBLIGATORY 2023
Ceres University will be offering trainings on all new versions, including IFA v6 Smart - November 15-17, 2022.
For more information, about the GLOBALG.A.P. Program and trainings, please visit:
