Whether it’s developing and testing new food products, ensuring compliance with expanding food safety and supply chain mandates, coordinating and hosting growing numbers of annual audits, or managing crucial client relationships, quality assurance (QA) managers in the food and beverage industry face rapidly escalating time and resource demands.

To help alleviate these mounting pressures, The Global ID Group has announced the formation of the Food Quality Alliance, a consortium of proven leaders in food safety and quality working together to provide a single source of over 40 essential testing, training and certification services. Launching in Q2 2015, the Alliance will provide QA teams with an integrated platform with which to centrally manage their growing array of responsibilities. The Alliance will offer products and services from the Global ID Group (CERT ID, Genetic ID and FoodChain ID) and its fellow founding members.

• Through CERT ID, the Alliance will offer multiple food safety certification services (BRC, SQF, Global G.A.P., ISO 22000) and training programs.
• Through Genetic ID, customers will gain access to a portfolio of pathogen, allergen, authenticity, speciation and GMO testing services.
• FoodChain ID will offer consulting and advisory services on international non-GMO regulatory policies and help companies obtain Non-GMO Project Verification for products sold in North America, or Ohne Gentechnik and Danube Soy certification in the European Union.

Other alliance members include California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), leading organic certifier in the U.S; The Orthodox Union, world’s leading provider of kosher certification; and The Acheson Group LLC, global experts in managing operational, regulatory and reputational risks for the food industry along with crisis and recall management. The Alliance will also include laboratory partners providing a full array of chemical and nutritional testing services.

“As regulatory requirements and market demands on food companies continue to grow, QA departments often find themselves struggling to keep up with the rigors of compliance,” said Ron Stakland, Global ID Group vice president of business development. “From food safety to sustainability to specialized niches like gluten-free and kosher, much of the work for assuring safe and compliant food products and ingredients falls on the QA department. At the same time, the need to stay competitive and keep costs in check has never been greater. The purpose of the Alliance is to offer QA managers a simpler way to manage multiple services.”

To learn more about the Food Quality Alliance, visit www.foodqualityalliance.com.