In recent years, accreditation has grown, particularly for privately owned standards schemes.

The German company FoodPLUS GmbH pioneered a group of European retailers responding to various food industry scandals in the 1990s. In 1997, the newly founded Euro-Retailer Produce Work Group Good Agricultural Practice (EurepGAP) commissioned experts to develop new standards for good agriculture practices. This gave rise to the certification system known today as GLOBALG.A.P.(1)