— Mike Robach ,

their own organisations ? “ There is a great opportunity now for companies to join , and become active in , GFSI ,” he pledges . “ Our Global Markets Programme can help SMEs with less sophisticated supply chains ( whether farmers , processers , distributors or retailers ) get on a road towards certification . It provides an incremental approach towards building a food safety capacity within an organisation , alongside a program of continuous improvement .” By providing a stepwise route towards accredited certification ,

GFSI ’ s Global Markets Programme allows small , developing businesses to join the food safety conversation . The GFSI Tokyo conference heard from two such companies who have built their success via the programme .

Tatania Chirva runs Liniya Smaku , a ready meal factory in Ukraine . The programme allowed her to improve safety , gain consumer trust , and increase sales by over 50 %. Meanwhile in Malaysia , Samantha Mah , Marketing Manager of health foods brand Wide Tropism , offers a similar success story .

where Mah and two other employees packaged goods themselves . Despite their humble surroundings , they had big ambitions : a place on the shelves of AEON department stores . They applied to be a supplier , received an audit , and were rejected . After multiple rejections , Wide Tropism worked with the Global Markets Programme to improve safety through documentation , batch number tracing , and other measures . They moved into a modern factory and hired new staff . Their efforts paid off in 2014 , when they went into business with AEON and were also named an

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