Wal-Mart seeks retailer support of GFSI

Luis of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group posted this story that speaks of Wal-Mart's effort to seek retail support of the Global Food Safety Initiative. From that Supermarket News story:

In the wake of this year's high-profile food recalls, Wal- Mart Stores' Vice President of Food Safety Frank Yiannas called upon food retailers to join the retail giant and several other global retailers in embracing the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), an effort to create and adopt uniform food safety standards. The hope is that more retailers and foodservice organizations are going to join us in this effort,” he said. “[GFSI] is our greatest opportunity to create a universal standard of safe food, and advance food safety and the quality of life for consumers around the world.”

TK: Questions remain how appropriate/adaptable the GFSI/SQF audit is for the produce growing community, particularly smaller operators. What is the GFSI? I found a powerpoint on the Web that covers the basics.