The Harmonised Australian Retailer Produce Scheme (HARPS) is a retailer-led scheme designed to assist compliance with food safety, legal and trade legislation for suppliers to the major grocery retailers in Australia. The scheme has now been running for 18 months, and over 900 businesses are now HARPS-approved.

Established with the goal of providing a more practical and comprehensive approach, HARPS has the ability to streamline the amount of work undertaken during the audit process. While the overall amount of time and resources saved will differ between businesses, for those currently audited to multiple schemes for multiple customers, transitioning to the use of one base scheme plus HARPS will mean a reduction in audit duration and potentially overall audit costs.

New information sessions have been announced to help increase industry understanding of the scheme:

• Wanneroo (WA) (1) – Tuesday 22 May 2018
• Wanneroo (WA) (2) – Tuesday 22 May 2018 (Vietnamese translation available at this session)
• Carnarvon (WA) – Wednesday 23 May 2018
• Mildura (VIC) – Monday 28 May 2018
• Robinvale (VIC) – Tuesday 29 May 2018
• Stanthorpe (QLD) – Tuesday 5 June 2018
• HARPS awareness webinar (including Q&A) – Monday 21 May 2018

These sessions will provide those who are already HARPS-approved with a refresher on the program and help those not currently involved with HARPS get an understanding about what it will mean for their business. They will cover essential details, including:

• What is HARPS?
• Does your business require HARPS approval?
• How to implement HARPS?
• How to register your interest in HARPS and what are the timelines?
• What additional support and guidance is available?

There will also be the opportunity to ask questions about HARPS.

Growers who can’t make it to one of those workshops can also refer to a new factsheet on HARPS which is designed to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the scheme. More information about HARPS can be found on the HARPS website.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 15 May 2018. Subscribe to the Update using our online form to receive the latest industry news in your inbox every week!