Learn how a CMMS software like eMaint can help your food or beverage manufacturing company effortlessly achieve Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification and prepare effectively for SQF audits.
In the food and beverage industry, controlling food safety risks is paramount to success. And when it comes to manufacturing facilities, one of the most respected food safety standards that can be attained is a Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification.
What is Safe Quality Food (SQF) Certification?
The Safe Quality Food (SQF) program is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) food safety guidelines. These guidelines focus on analyzing, controlling, and preventing food safety hazards throughout the food supply chain.
Organizations that fall within the scope of SQF audits and certifications include:
- Food and ingredient manufacturers
- Food packaging manufacturers
- Animal and pet food manufacturers
- Consumer product packagers (utensils, napkins, etc.)
- Storage, distribution, and transportation facilities
- Biochemical manufacturers
- Catering companies
- Farming facilities
- Agricultural packinghouses
Passing an SQF audit shows your customers that your products are handled and prepared following the highest food safety standards. SQF certification also ensures your company is in the best possible position to minimize risk and protect your brand from recalls.
What is a Safe Quality Food Audit?
A safe quality food audit is required to achieve SQF certification of any level. Each SQF audit focuses on a range of topics related to food safety, including:
- Management training
- Safe handling of equipment
- Proper sanitation
- Crisis prevention
- And more
Specific audit requirements, as well as the frequency of SQF audits, depend on which level of SQF certification you are seeking. It also depends on what food sector category your business falls under (primary production, manufacturing, storage and distribution, or manufacture of food packaging and food retail).
To achieve your first SQF certification, two separate audits must be carried out by NSF Food Safety Certification, LLC, which is the governing body responsible for SQF accreditation. For new certifications, a facility will undergo both a desk audit and a facility audit. Meanwhile, previously certified facilities only need to pass a regular facility audit.
Depending on your facility’s size and required number of audits, you can expect SQF certification to cost approximately $5,000-$10,000.
What Are the 3 Levels of SQF Certification?
There are three different levels of SQF certification a company can attain, and each one requires an organization to pass specific SQF audit criteria. Each progressive level also requires the facility to achieve all conditions of the levels below it.
Level 1: Food Safety Basics
Level 1 SQF certification is intended for low-risk, small, and new companies. To achieve this level, a facility must address issues related to basic food safety based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), and Good Distribution Practices (GDPs).
Level 2: Food Safety Planning
To achieve level 2 SQF certification, facilities must follow higher GFSI standards related to food safety planning, and they must have an HACCP certification.
Level 3: Food Safety, Planning, and Quality Management
The top level of certification not only holds a facility to a higher standard when it comes to food safety and planning, but also holds the facility to food quality standards.
Determining what level of SQF certification you need depends on a variety of factors, including your company’s size, as well as the requirements of your vendors and other business partners.
5 Tips to Pass an SQF Audit
Passing an SQF certification audit shows that your company follows rigorous food safety protocols and best practices. This proves to your customers and partners that you have a strong commitment to health, safety, and quality.
To prepare for an SQF audit, follow these five tips to achieve the appropriate SQF certification level for your business needs:
1. Designate an SQF practitioner
This person within the business will be responsible for understanding and staying up to date on the latest SQF requirements related to your organization.
2. Avoid pencil and paper documentation
Moving to a digital system, such as a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), will drastically improve the reliability and consistency of your record-keeping. A CMMS also helps you easily analyze past data and prevent lost or incomplete records, ensuring fast and accurate audits.
3. Outline competencies and deficiencies of your organization
This will help you develop and carry out training programs that ensure your staff and assets meet the requirements necessary for SQF certification.
4. Consider hiring a third-party auditor focused on SQF compliance
Leveraging outside expertise is especially important if your organization is new to the process, or otherwise struggling to prepare for an SQF audit or achieve SQF certification.
5. Develop a food safety monitoring program
Avoid surprises when audit time comes around by developing a robust food safety monitoring program that includes regular internal audits. A capable CMMS is a highly effective way to streamline record-keeping and ensure accurate, reliable records for both internal and official audits.
How eMaint CMMS Simplifies SQF Audit Preparation
A CMMS software streamlines food & beverage industry maintenance management. Maintenance and reliability teams can complete work orders, track assets, optimize part inventory levels, schedule preventive maintenance, and much more.
eMaint CMMS is designed with food & beverage industry compliance in mind, offering innovative tools that simplify SQF and BRC audit preparation:
- Digitalized audit tracking & document housing. Pen and paper audit tracking makes organization challenging, finding the correct documents time consuming, and limits your team’s access to vital information. Paper audit prep can end up wasting your team hundreds of hours of labor a year. eMaint centralizes your tracking system and documents in a single, accessible database and command center.
- Easy-to-use dashboards. Build an audit dashboard that gives insight into your SQF-compliant procedures, PM scheduling, and asset health. Dashboards are easy to create and ideal for quickly demonstrating compliance – getting auditors in and out.
- Comprehensive audit trail. Your team’s work, from creating work orders to updating asset status and editing contact information, is all recorded in the eMaint audit trail. You can see what actions took place, who performed them, and when they occurred.
- Electronic signatures. Safeguard key actions with password-protected e-signatures.
- Bring in Safety, Quality, and Sanitation. You can route work orders through safety, quality, and sanitation teams, capturing e-signature approval as you go, making sure that you have the approval of key personnel across teams.
- Make SQF best practices the norm. eMaint allows you to standardize SQF best practices and procedures by including them in work orders or asset details.
Get Started with a CMMS for Safe Food Quality
Preparing for a safe quality food audit can be an intimidating task. However, with the tips above – as well as a powerful CMMS – you will have the tools you need to pass an SQF audit and achieve the right SQF certification for your business. Beyond safe quality food, a robust CMMS offers many other advantages for food and beverage manufacturers, including streamlining maintenance processes, ensuring data integrity, accelerating your reliability journey, and more. See a recent case study to learn more.