UK: Malt industry fights back with world-leading scheme

A world-leading assurance scheme run by the UK Malt industry is helping it to fight back against the problem of over-supply in the market. In his annual statement to the industry, Euan MacPherson, Chairman of the Maltsters Association of Great Britain (MAGB) claims that the recently re-launched Assured UK Malt scheme has no equivalent anywhere in the world, MAGB communicated on November 14.

He says: “At this year’s Drinktec exhibition we launched the latest phase of the Assured UK Malt scheme. On the evidence of research carried out before the event, and on intelligence gathered at the event itself, I have no hesitation in saying that no other country in the world has a scheme to match it.

“No other country can claim to have brought their malt industry together in a scheme that: includes all the country’s major producers; brings together all aspects of the supply chain; includes over 25,000 farms in three assurance schemes; is independently audited and is accredited by an internationally recognised body.”

This positive step forward comes at a difficult time for the industry in which issues include increasing energy costs, additional capacity coming online in an already oversupplied industry, particularly in Russia, and bilateral trade agreements that put UK maltsters at a disadvantage.

However, Euan points out that the UK remains the second largest malt-producing nation in the EU, and UK maltsters will still require about 1.7 million tonnes of UK malting barley from the 2005 crop.

The Assured UK Malt (AUKM) scheme is the only accredited malt scheme in the world. It was re-launched in 2005 following the inclusion of:

Food Safety
Product legality
Good Operational Practice
Product quality

The scheme is independently audited by PAI (Product Authentication International), which in turn is accredited by UKAS (UK Accreditation Service).

This was done with the assistance of Product Authentication International (PAI), who helped the industry’s experts to rewrite the Assured UK Malt Standard. This document was then submitted to United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS) for formal accreditation to EN45011. PAI then were appointed as the UKAS-approved Accreditation Body for Assured UK Malt.

To achieve this level of deliverable assurance, the industry experts had also to review the MAGB Guide to HACCP in malting, which is publicly available on the MAGB website (www.ukmalt.com). This document, in combination with the AUKM Standard, provides the framework within which UK maltsters lead their competitors on product assurance.

The challenge now is to ensure that we use the advantage gained, and that we promote Assured UK Malt (AUKM) whenever the opportunity arises. To that end the maltsters accredited under the AUKM scheme, assisted by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), have invested in a professional marketing campaign to promote the scheme.
It is critical that the scheme continues to evolve to ensure that the UK stays ahead of its international competitors and vital that the companies themselves use and promote the mark wherever appropriate.

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