The BOPP certification scheme, a specialist group of the HTA, sets high standards of professionalism in how plants, flowers and growing media are produced and delivered to customers. The aim of the scheme is to raise the standards of ornamental horticulture in the UK. Rebecca Grant, BOPP Chair, believes that maintaining UKAS accreditation for the scheme is vital to achieving this aim.
NSF Certification is the leading provider of independent assurance and certification services to the agriculture, produce and processing industries, certifying over 70,000 clients in the UK and Europe.
“Working with a certification body like NSF Certification that is UKAS accredited is very important to BOPP’s strategy of raising standards in the ornamentals industry. It ensures that inspections carried out to our standards are of a consistently high quality and our members can be confident that they are being evaluated in a fair way. The independence and credibility that this accreditation provides is essential to our scheme as we continue to promote the scheme to UK retailers, as well as potential new users.”
BOPP is an important and valued certification scheme for the UK ornamental market, which is well recognised and accepted by the industry. A number of the major UK retailers currently request certification to the BOPP standards as part of their sourcing strategy. This recognition demonstrates that the BOPP standards have set out best practices for the industry. The BOPP Scheme Manager, Anna Cook, understands that it is important for the standards to continue to develop in order to maintain this recognition.
“The BOPP Management Committee is keen for BOPP to continue to be recognised as the best practice standard for the industry. In order to do this we must continue to review industry developments, research findings and changes in technology. BOPP is in the process of updating its standards, which will be launched in 2014. Part of this process includes benchmarking our standards to other internationally recognised standards, such as GLOBALG.A.P. We acknowledge there are numerous standards available and we are keen to assist our members with meeting their customer’s certification requirements in the most cost effective way possible.”
Working with NSF Certification enables BOPP members to be certificated to multiple schemes during one inspection, where required. The company has an existing network of offices and inspectors worldwide, which helps to ensure that inspections are carried out as cost effectively as possible.
