With the signing of an agreement between the Interprofessional Association of Andalusian Strawberries (Interfresa) and the Spanish Federation of Manufacturers of Wooden Containers and their Components (FEDEMCO), an important step has been made in the sector as a whole to fight against intrusiveness and bad commercial practices. Both organizations will encourage adherence to food hygiene standards and, in particular, will demand that the containers have the corresponding sanitary registrations, the technical data of the packaged product, the GROW certificate and the NIMF-15, as well as the corresponding product traceability.
Alberto Garrocho, Alberto Palmí Alcober and José Luis García-Palacios Álvarez after the signing of an agreement for the benefit of the entire sector
This important agreement has been signed in Huelva by Interfresa president José Luis García-Palacios Álvarez and the secretary of the Spanish Federation of Manufacturers of Wooden Containers and their Components (FEDEMCO), Alberto Palmí Alcober, in the presence of the president of Freshuelva, Alberto Garrocho, and the president of the interprofessional, Pedro Marín. INTERFRESA aims to promote improvements in the quality of the products through whatever means and activities necessary, as long as they are legal. The goal is to carry out as many actions and activities as possible to improve the knowledge, efficiency and transparency of the market, while improving the sector's public perception by promoting the supply of adequate information to consumers.
For its part, FEDEMCO, the Spanish Federation of Manufacturers of Wooden Containers and their Components, defends the interests of the manufacturers of wooden packaging and pallets in Spain. It brings together and offers services to companies that manufacture wooden containers and boxes for fruits and other products, components, supplies and machinery. Moreover, it is integrated both nationally and internationally, directly or indirectly, in different organizations within its sector, participating actively in them. At the international level, it is part of the European Federation of Wooden Pallet and Packaging Manufacturers (FEFPEB) and the GROW International network of European packaging manufacturers.
The presidents of Freshuelva and Interfresa at the signing of the agreement with the secretary of the Spanish Federation of Manufacturers of Wooden Containers and their Components.
In the opinion of both parties, the signing of this agreement "is a positive move in the path towards collaboration and coordination between the two organizations, which aim to establish paths of action that favour and increase their mutual benefit, especially in the fight against intrusiveness in commercial practices and unfair competition in their respective areas. "In this way, a joint action plan will be established, culminating with the approval of a protocol of conduct in the packaging and labelling of the product known as Strawberries from Huelva.
Some lines of action have already been established, such as the implementation, for their respective associates, of informative campaigns for the dissemination of good commercial and sanitary practices in the packaging and marketing of Strawberries from Huelva. Also, if applicable, reports will be made to the health authorities to denounce all practices that infringe on the sectoral regulations and other traceability requirements, both in the case of the fruit and the containers that come into contact with food. This will also serve to launch inspections against practices that violate the rights of consumers, strawberry producers and/or packaging manufacturers. The end goal is to put an end to fraud, which harms both sectors.
In order to ensure that the work carried out by the Andalusian Strawberry Interprofessional Association and by FEDEMCO is coordinated, a joint working committee will be set up in the next few days to monitor and evaluate both the preparation and packaging of the products on the part of the producers and the production of packaging and labelling materials by the manufacturers.