Previous level Blog

What a year!

18 December 2024 | Martine Boon

Our community goes from strength to strength. Hear some of this year’s highlights from the GMP+ team. Have you ever jumped onto a moving train? That’s what these past three months have felt like since I joined GMP+ International.

As the world’s largest community for safe and sustainable feed, we’ve been working hard this year to add value to our community and get closer to achieving our goal of safe and sustainable feed, worldwide.

But you don’t just have to take it from me… I’ve asked some of my colleagues to share their highlights from 2024.

Transition is on track

Our Scheme & Customer Service Officer & Auditor, Ellen van Dorssen, highlights the great results we’ve seen in transitioning to the GMP+ Feed Certification scheme 2020. The renewed scheme is more flexible, focused on outcomes not processes, and has been developed in partnership with the animal feed sector.

“The deadline of 1 March 2025 for withdrawing the former GMP+ FC scheme is coming closer, and in 2024 all the companies and their Certification Bodies were busy transitioning the companies to our GMP+ FC scheme 2020. Auditors were trained, companies adapted their Quality Management systems, contracts were renewed, and audits were performed based on the renewed scheme. 

Everybody worked hard to make this transition possible and successful. About 90% of the companies have transitioned already and both CBs and companies are on schedule to transition the remaining companies on time. That is quite an achievement!”

Ellen van Dorssen

Scheme & Customer Service Officer & Auditor

Keeping safety relevant

Thiago Hamberland, our FSA Scheme Manager, reflects on how we are keeping our safety scheme up to date.

“In 2024, we worked on an updated, and globally applicable, standard for Antibiotic-free feed, which we will be publishing in 2025. By doing so, we will strengthen our role in supporting sustainable and responsible practices in the feed industry.

Additionally, we expanded our audit options by enabling new remote auditing possibilities, enhancing flexibility and efficiency in ensuring compliance with the standards. These developments reinforce GMP+'s commitment to maintaining high quality and safety standards across the global feed supply chain.”

Thiago Hamberland

FSA Scheme manager

Helping our community

Gosia Lesko, our Customer Service Coordinator, highlights the hard work of the Helpdesk team.

Gosia Lesko

“This year has been anything but dull!  Helpdesk replied to around 3,600 emails and answered almost 1,200 calls. It was a year of intensive communication, engaging with our community about new tools like the updated website and portal, etc. We also played a key role in supporting companies with their final transition to the GMP+ FC scheme 2020.

We welcomed a new team member and restructured our operations to better serve our customers. We will remain dedicated to supporting our customers in understanding our scheme to the fullest extent in the coming year.”

Gosia Lesko

Customer Service Coordinator

Exciting developments coming soon

Our Senior Marketeer, Joris de Gooijer, shares the progress made on new features for our community:

Joris de Gooijer

“The GMP+ Community has exciting developments to look forward to with the launch of our new GMP+ Platform! It began with the introduction of our updated website in April 2024, marking the first step towards an enhanced user experience. In June 2024, we expanded further by making our Risk Management Tools available to a select group of users.

Currently, we're in the final stages of completing our GMP+ Monitoring database, a key element of this transformation. The launch of the new GMP+ Platform is due soon, and we’re excited to share it with the GMP+ Community.

With improved user experience, seamless connected services, and centralised data management, the new platform is designed to deliver significant benefits to our users. Keep an eye out for our GMP+ newsletter for more updates as we approach this exciting milestone!”

Joris de Gooijer

Senior Marketeer

Onwards to 2025

For me, the highlight has been getting to know our incredible GMP+ Community and team. GMP+ International is a strong organisation, with a strong brand and a strong scheme. We are now at the point of professionalising further in terms of efficiency and scheme developments. We’re also looking at opportunities to support feed safety and sustainability in parts of the world that are experiencing challenges.

I want to thank our hard-working team, and the entire GMP+ Community, for a positive 2024. I am looking forward to taking our work to the next level in 2025, and doing so together with all of you.