The GGN label is a cross-category, consumer-facing mark of certified farming practices, with a strong core in food safety and traceability. But responsible farming involves more than that. This is why the GGN label follows a holistic approach. This means that it encompasses not just one, but several central aspects of the farming process.

Together with food safety and traceability, the holistic approach of the standards behind the label also aim to promote the environment, workers’ health, safety, and welfare, and animal health and welfare.

This is what makes the GGN label unique. And it’s how the GGN label can give you the reassurance you need in your day-to-day grocery shopping.

The GGN label brand is owned by Agraya GmbH, based in Cologne, Germany.

We believe you have the right to know where your food comes from and how it was produced. The GGN label promotes the connection between producers and consumers.
By making visible the people and mechanisms involved in the production and labeling process, we make them accountable for how they produce their products.

And we believe you have the right to know how the product landed in your market. Food production today is no longer a simple matter of one farmer selling products directly to a few retailers. Whether it is from the seed to the fully-grown plant, or from the roe to the marinated salmon steak, a product goes through many stages and hands and, very often continents, before it reaches you. This makes it difficult to understand who was involved in producing it. We are committed to making the roots of the finished product visible for everyone.

A magnifying glass focuses attention on details that are not easily seen with the naked eye. As a symbol of searching and investigating, a magnifying glass sheds light on complex issues and allows us to better understand and inspect what we are seeing.

This is in essence what our GGN label does. The GGN magnifying glass enhances transparency by revealing the hidden people producing the food and plants you buy. It enables us to inspect the processes involved in farming to ensure they are being carried out responsibly with respect to people, animals, and the environment. And it is the instrument we use to check, verify, and confirm the roots of your products to offer you peace of mind.

The GGN label aims to offer assurance that the products were farmed in line with responsible farming practices that are certified to leading international standards for production processes in agriculture, aquaculture, and floriculture. These standards contain criteria that promote food safety, environmental protection, animal health and welfare, workers’ health, safety, and welfare, and supply chain transparency. 

The GGN label comes with a 13-digit farm or farmer group identification number. This number allows you to trace your product back to its roots. And you can do that while you’re shopping, right on your mobile device!

All you have to do is type the GGN number into the GGN label portal search, and you will learn all about the farm, its location, and the products it produces.

The GGN label can be found in stores in 40 countries on more than 2,700 products. These are divided into three scopes: Agriculture, aquaculture, and floriculture.

The label covers farmed products only, and not wild farming. So, for example, you won’t find the label on swordfish, because swordfish can’t be farmed in a controlled environment. It can only be fished in the ocean. Salmon, on the other hand, can be farmed in aquaculture farms using certified processes that can be regulated, controlled, and monitored, as well as checked by qualified auditors working for independent and accredited certification bodies. 

Currently, you can find the GGN label on:

• Floriculture products: Cut flowers, flower bouquets, flower bulbs, potted plants, and Christmas trees sourced from farms with certified production processes. 
• Aquaculture products: A range of farmed fish, crustaceans, molluscs, and seaweed/algae – including fresh, frozen, and packed – such as salmon, trout, mussels, and shrimp sourced from farms with certified production processes.
• Agriculture products: Fresh fruits and vegetables (both loose and packed), potted fruit and vegetable plants, potted fresh herbs, and cut/mixed/frozen fruit and vegetables sourced from farms with certified production processes. 

All the products with the GGN label can be traced back to their roots. You can find a selection of GLOBALG.A.P. certified farms here.

The foundation of the GGN label is an internationally recognized and accredited set of GLOBALG.A.P. standards that aim to promote food safety, environmental protection, animal health and welfare, workers' health, safety, and welfare, and supply chain transparency.

The GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance standard (IFA) covers agriculture, floriculture, aquaculture with certified producers in more than 130 countries worldwide.

It standard specifies a set of rules and requirements that farms must comply with to demonstrate the implementation of responsible farming practices on the farm and become certified.

Certification bodies – a network of third-party, independent and accredited organizations – audit the farms and issue the certificates.

Standard rules, called compliance criteria, are developed in coordination with a wide range of industry stakeholders, including producers, retailers, government agencies, and NGOs, and so reflect the current demands of the market as a whole.They also undergo public consultation to ensure everyone has the chance to submit feedback. 

Certification and certification body activities are also overseen by an integrity program, the first of its kind in food certification, to make sure the standard is being implemented correctly and consistently according to the rules.

Products with the GGN label show that:

• An auditor from an accredited and independent certification body approved by GLOBALG.A.P. has checked the production process on the farm and found that it fulfils the requirements of the IFA standard.
• The farm was also assessed to see if it complies with strict rules and regulations to protect its workers’ health, safety, and welfare under the GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice (GRASP).
• Certified products that leave the farm gate and reach your market are not mixed with non-certified products at any stage in the supply chain. This is monitored through the GLOBALG.A.P. Chain of Custody (CoC) standard.
• The certification body has also been checked to make sure that the standard is being implemented correctly.

A standard is a set of accredited and industry-approved rules and specifications for farming practices. Farmers must comply with them to prove that their production processes are in line with nationally and internationally accepted requirements for food safety, the environment, workers’ health, safety, and welfare, animal health and welfare, and supply chain transparency. 

Standards are organic, living documents that frequently need to be aligned to the current market conditions and needs. To make sure they stay relevant, everyone in the industry needs to be involved in the process of revising them on a regular basis.

GLOBALG.A.P. standards are the result of a transparent and independent development process that involves the close collaboration of  industry stakeholders, including producers, retailers, NGOs, and others. You can read more about the standard setting process on the GLOBALG.A.P. website.