A supplier must first earn all four green engagement stars in their engagement profile before they can be awarded the Supplier Gold Star. The green stars are earned as follows:
- Active Supplier LAB Subscription: Maintaining an active subscription in ECIP LAB.
- Supply Chain Onboarding: Reporting an accurate total number of growers in the supply chain and ensuring a significant percentage of those growers have an active ECIP Grower LAB subscription.
- Supply Chain Engagement: Automatically awarded when a majority of the growers in the supplier’s network have achieved two or more green stars in Grower LAB or the center gold certification star.
- Supplier Assessment & Endorsement: Achieved by officially endorsing the Ethical Charter through the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) website and completing the self-assessment of the 15 management systems within Supplier LAB.
Navigate to the Supplier Gold Star Page
Step 1: From your home page click “Learn More” under Your Engagement Profile
Step 2: This will take you to the “How Stars are Awarded in the Supplier Engagement Profile” page. Once here, complete the required steps to earn the Gold Star.
Required Steps
To earn the Supplier Gold Star, suppliers must verify, report and attest to the total number of qualified growers in their supply chain.
A qualified grower is any unique farming operation (including third-party and company-owned operations) that employs workers directly or through Farm Labor Contractors to produce goods for the supplier organization. This number is reported in the Company Profile. This should exclude any growers used only for short-term, spot or emergency purchases.
Required Actions
To receive the Gold Star, suppliers must complete the following actions:
Verify the total number of qualified growers using one of the two methods outlined below
Update the grower count in the Company Profile with this verified number
Attest that the verification process has been completed
Agree to provide supporting documentation if requested
Verification Steps (Choose 1)
- Payment System: Verify qualified grower count in the Company Profile by using the payment system purchase records from the last 12 months and adding in vertically-integrated farming operations
- Food Safety Documents: Verify qualified grower count in the Company Profile by cross-referencing the full supply chain food safety audit and certification documents from the last 12 months
Attestation (Required)
Agreement: Attest that the process has been completed and that the grower count in the Company Profile represents the entire supply chain of qualified growers. Agree to provide supporting documentation if requested.