Woolworths chooses produce from quality assurance certified producers

30/7/96

Primary Industry Minister Monty House today announced that the Woolworths supermarket chain had endorsed Agriculture Western Australia's quality assurance program through opting for produce grown by Safe Quality Food 2000 certified producers.

The SQF 2000 quality code was developed by Agwest Trade and Development 12 months ago.

The concept had since been picked by producer groups nationally and internationally.

Mr House said in its commitment to provide quality fresh food to its customers, Woolworths would prefer to buy produce that had been quality assured.

"Consumers worldwide are now demanding fresh, clean and 'green' products and want to be guaranteed of this purchase," he said.

"Surveys worldwide indicate that food safety is one of the major concerns of consumers.

"Producers are now undertaking quality assurance programs to demonstrate to their customers and consumers that they can deliver 'fresh, clean, green' and safe produce.

"The competitiveness of producers now often depends on their reliability to produce what the customer wants on a consistent basis - quality assurance certification is a way of  achieving this."

Mr House congratulated Woolworths on their endorsement of the SQF 2000 code and their ongoing commitment to supply quality products and said consumers would be the overall winners.

He said by supermarket chains preferring to buy quality assured produce, growers who made the commitment to quality would also benefit.

Media contact: Nicole Trigwell (09) 481 2044, pager (09) 476 0369