(ANSI: New York) -- Seven of the world’s leading retailers, including U.S.-based Wal-Mart, have agreed to rely upon food safety and quality management systems that have been certified as meeting rigorous standards for production, preparation, transport, storage, and handling. Agreed at a recent meeting of CIES–The Food Business Forum, the pact focuses on ensuring the continual improvement of food safety systems worldwide and driving supply-chain efficiency by reducing the duplication of audits for global importers and exporters.

Under the umbrella of the Global Food Safety Initiative, the retailers will mutually recognize certification programs such as those accredited by the American National Standards Institute under the Food Marketing Institute’s Safe Quality Food (SQF 2000) standard.

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