Kiwa conquers international eco market

Over the past period, Kiwa acquired two new companies in Spain and in Sweden. Grupotec Inspección y Medio Ambiente (GIMA) and Ceres Ibérica together have recently become a part of Kiwa España. Both companies have had a prominent role in the Spanish market of food certification and, more specifically, the rapidly growing certification of organic agriculture.
The most recent take-over is the one of Swedish certification institute for organic agriculture, Aranea, a 100% subsidiary of KRAV, the Swedish organisation consisting of food producers, environment and animal protection groups, responsible for food inspections and certifications.
Aforementioned companies perfectly comply with Kiwa’s strategy to further develop its activities in the international eco-market according to the ‘one-stop-shopping’ concept, which many customers could take advantage of.

Both GIMA and Ceres are well-known players in the Spanish market. Not only they have been accredited for GlobalGAP, BRC and IFS, they also have had a long track record with regard to the certification of vegetables and fruit and organic agriculture. Because of the merger of the two companies, Kiwa’s presence in Spain is covered and offers possibilities for international co-operation and exchange of knowledge. This way, Kiwa is considerably increasing its existing certification schemes like ISO 9001, ISO 1400, ISO 22000 and OHSAS with the Spanish accreditations. Immediate consequences of this increase are an accelerated certification process and the possibility of combined certification. The latter offers customers more opportunities to enlarge their distribution areas.

Sweden
Because of its expertise, the take-over of the Swedish Aranea guarantees a further international increase of Kiwa’s services’ portfolio regarding the market for organic agricultural products. Because of the merger with Kiwa, Aranea is able to better serve its customers in Sweden and the vicinity. As is the case for Kiwa España, the availability of a broader accreditation also provides Aranea with an easier access to the international eco market.

Organic agricultural standard
The demand for eco products is growing every day; on the one hand for health reasons and on the other hand for the protection of the environment. Organic agriculture is based on the application of agricultural techniques, excluding the use of synthetic chemicals such as fertiliser and pesticides in order to relieve the environment, maintain the fertility of the earth and to produce natural food.
Kiwa España is an expert in this field and has been very successful in testing and certification according to the so-called Bio standard, which will be even more important in the future. Also because of Aranea’s wealth of knowledge and experience in Sweden, Kiwa has been able to obtain a firmer foothold in the rapidly growing market for eco products.

Kiwa is a Dutch quality assurance institute with worldwide operations. We work ceaselessly to improve processes, products, personnel and organisations by offering certification procedures, training courses, inspection, advice, research and our wide-ranging technological know-how. Kiwa is active in nearly every market segment, and has establishments in eight European countries and China.