Food Alliance Certification
Watch the video to learn more about these efforts
PASA has partnered with Food Alliance to deliver a trusted, third-party certification to our region's farms, processors, food buyers and consumers. The Food Alliance Certified seal ensures safe and fair working conditions, humane treatment of animals, and careful stewardship of ecosystems.
New Food Alliance Certified Clients in the Mid-Atlantic Region
Sunnyside Farm - Dover, PA - Food Alliance Certified for Poultry
Red Jacket Orchard - Geneva, NY - Food Alliance Certified for Apricots, Plums & Prunes
One Straw Farm - White Hall, MD - Food Alliance Certified for Market Garden/CSA
Three Springs Fruit Farm - Aspers, PA - Food Alliance Certified for Apples, Peaches, Pears & Cherries
Ayrshire Farm - Upperville, VA - Food Alliance Certified for Beef Cattle, Chicken meat & eggs, Hogs, Turkey meat & Market Garden
Katchkie Farm - Kinderhook, NY - Food Alliance Certified for Chicken eggs, Market Garden
NEW! Dickinson College Farm - Carlisle, PA - achieves certification - read the press release
NEW! Sustainable Food News coverage of Dickinson's certification
NEW! Read the Sunnyside Farm Profile in the November/December Newsletter
Food Alliance Certification helps protect and enhance the reputation of farms and food facilities that are committed to the following Standards:
Farm & Ranch Standards
| Ensure animal health and human treatment |
No hormone or antibiotic supplements |
| Do not raise GMO crops or livestock | Reduce pesticide use and toxicity |
| Protect and enhance soil resources | Protect water resources |
| Provide safe and fair working conditions | Continually improve practices |
Packer, Processor & Distributor Standards
| Use Food Alliance certified ingredients | Provide safe and fair working conditions |
| Conserve energy and water | Reduce use of toxic and hazardous materials |
| Reduce and recycle waste | Ensure quality control and food handling safety |
| No artificial flavors, colors or preservatives |
Continually improve practices |
Eater's Guide
Our partners at Food Alliance, in partnership with other third-party certification programs, recently developed an outreach piece called, "The Eater's Guide to Food & Farm Sustainability". This pocket guide is aimed to cut through confusion and help consumers and commercial buyers make informed purchasing decisions.
To ensure broad appeal with consumers and commercial buyers, Food Alliance selected other third-party inspected certifications that are highly distinguished in publicly available label comparisons such as greenerchoices.org and nrdc.org/living labels. Most of the labels included are also specifically referenced in institutional purchasing policy guidelines such as Green Seal 46, Green Guide for Healthcare, AASHE Sustainability Tracking and Rating System, and LEED for Existing Buildings, Operations & Maintenance.
The labels selected were also those that seemed most comparable to Food Alliance standard areas and that publish publicly available standards.
For more information about the Eater's Guide visit - http://foodalliance.org/eaters-guide
Ally Program
Food Alliance has also started an Ally Program:
Food Alliance certification verifies responsible management practices in agriculture and food handling including safe and fair working conditions, humane animal care and careful stewardship of ecosystems. To extend these values at all levels of the supply chain, Food Alliance is now providing resources to commercial food buyers interested in buying or selling third-party certified sustainable food products. By publicly aligning with Food Alliance's sustainability standards, these Allies represent growing market demand for sustainably produced food.
Nonprofits, restaurants, retailers and other commercial food buyers can be recognized as Food Alliance Allies for FREE by signing up at http://foodalliance.org/get-involved.
Resources
Food Alliance Brochure
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Making the Most of Sustainability Certification
Other Materals of Interest
Read the Food Alliance & PASA Partnership Press Release (2009)
Read more about Bringing Food Alliance Certification to the Mid-Atlantic (2009)
Read more about the GMO Debate & Food Alliance Certification (2010)
Read the PASA newsletter article that in our September/October edition about these certified farms.(2010)
Read the Lancaster Farming article regarding our Food Alliance field day at Three Springs Fruit Farm.(2010)
Read the FastCasual.com article regarding Responsible Restaurants: How Operators Can Leverage True Sustainability to Their Advantage (2011)
PASA is helping farms, processors and other food businesses in the Mid-Atlantic region (NY, NJ, OH, PA, DE, MD...) learn about Food Alliance and decide whether certification is right for them.
Contact us to learn more about this certification, about upcoming educational events, or to schedule a site visit.
certification@pasafarming.org
814-349-9856
Food Alliance is a nonprofit organization that works to define and promote sustainability in agriculture and the food industry. To learn more about the Food Alliance Certification standards and process visit: www.FoodAlliance.org.
