ACA Quality and Sustainability Seal

The African Cashew Alliance is proud to introduce the ACA Quality and Sustainability Seal!

This innovative new program, the first of its kind in the world, will directly improve the competitiveness of the African cashew processing industry.

The ACA Seal team consists of Peter Kojo Nyarko, Seal Coordinator; Miriam Gyamfi, Marketing Coordinator; Jim Giles, former Vice-President for Quality at Planters (Kraft Foods); and Tjasse-Pieter Dijksterhuis of Intersnack (Europe’s largest snack producer).

The ACA Seal is an industry-accepted mark that represents compliance with internationally recognized quality, food safety, and social/labor standards. To receive the Seal, processors will have to demonstrate that they have systems in place to address 14 specific food safety/quality areas, including infestation, foreign material, clumping/blocking, taste, and grade compliance. The Seal auditing process will also ensure that facilities meet global social compliance standards and local labour laws, evaluating such areas as absence of child/prison labor, absence of abuse or harassment, and fair employee wages. The Seal program has been reviewed and approved by a former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officer and was found to be compliant with the US Food Safety Modernization Act.

ACA partnered with industry leaders in the development of this program, including Kraft Foods and Intersnack. These two industry giants have committed to buying ACA Seal cashew and are supporting the program with technical resources. Implementation of the program is also being supported through partnerships with Technoserve and the USAID West Africa Trade Hub.