To assist California avocado growers in becoming GAP certified, and to ensure the requirements are applicable for growing avocados, the Commission developed an avocado specific set of GAP procedures in late 2010 built around the United States Department of Agriculture’s standards. In August, 2011, the CAC Board approved the CAC-GAP and CAC-GHP (Good Harvesting Practices) programs, which provided a uniform, common-sense set of procedures and guidelines for California avocado growers. In August of 2014 the CAC Board approved an update to the CAC-GAP program which closely followed the PrimusLabs Food Safety Audit for Ranches. Then, in November of 2016 the CAC Board approved the third version of the California Avocado Commission's Food Safety Manual, which complied with the PrimusGFS V2.1-2 audit. The fourth version of the California Avocado Commission's Food Safety Manual was approved by the CAC Board in February of 2019 and complied with the PrimusGFS V3.0 audit.
Most recently, in August of 2022 the CAC Board approved the fifth version of the California Avocado Commission's Food Safety Manual, which complies with the new PrimusGFS V3.2 audit. The updated Food Safety Manual is available on this site to help you get started toward having your food safety program certified.
