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The latest quality mark under management of the foundation RHP is the RHP quality mark for the application area mushrooms. Since June 2004 the producers of mushroom casing RHP are certificated. In the future the application area Mushrooms will be brought under accreditation. ECAS is the accreditation institute for the RHP. The requirements for substrates for mushroom cultivation are in such way that they comply with the demands of the professional mushroom grower. With the development of the requirements consideration is taken with the requirements held to the cultivation of mushroom for consumption conform EurepGAP

Awarding takes place when a candidate participant satisfies all requirements listed in the certification scheme application area Mushrooms. Candidate participants will only receive the RHP certificate after a period of implementation and realisation of all requirements from the certification scheme. When a company satisfies all requirements of the certification scheme, the quality mark is issued under licence. The RHP quality mark application area Mushrooms guarantees the quality of the product in the chain, from extraction to processing at the client. Monitoring is carried out by an independent organisation, making the quality mark a guarantee for reliability, safety and quality.

Mushroom casing and all other raw materials that carry the RHP-quality mark application area Mushrooms satisfy the highest chemical and physical requirements, are low in weeds and free of pathogenic germs, which can cause harmful effects in the mushroom cultivation. The RHP quality mark application area Mushrooms offers optimum appropriate guarantee to the professional mushroom grower.

	Casing soil		Lime		Coir products
	Factory waste lime		Peat (raw material)

Applying for the RHP Quality Mark

Manufacturers, importers and traders of substrates and raw material for the mushroom cultivation may apply for the RHP quality mark Mushrooms. For information on obtaining the RHP quality mark: info@rhp.nl

But also mushrooms growers and other users of the named substrates may also call upon the RHP Foundation for research and advice.

Route to certification

When a potential participant addresses oneself to the foundation RHP and complies with a number of general commitments the route to certification can be started. This route has a number of phases. These phases are 0-measurement (optional), advice adjustment processes and/or products conform current requirements, drawing up a company specific quality manual, implementation of a quality assurance system or adjustment of a current quality assurance system.

After implementation of the quality manual and the requirements of the certification scheme the six-months declaration period will be started. This declaration implies that the company can show the certification institute that it is able to work according to the product and process requirements. Within this half year an internal audit will take place. At the end of this six-months period the certification institute will execute a major audit. This audit indicates if the company complies with the requirements of the RHP quality mark application area Mushrooms. When the results are positive, the candidate participant can become a participant and the certificate will be issued. We indicate the time scheme at approximately 1 year.

The candidate participant can use the advice services of the RHP. Regular cooperation with the technical adviser of the RHP advances a fast introduction and execution of the product and process requirements. For this purpose companies and/or production locations will be visited regularly by one of our technical advisers.