If your activity involves food manufacturing or importing food, you follow the Codex HACCP guidelines. Adopted in 1969, the General Principles of Food Hygiene have recently been revised to reflect the current understanding of food safety risks. The document comprises two parts: the first section describes Good Hygiene Practices for primary food producers and post-farm…
Quick Starter Guide to Canadian Food Labelling
When it comes to creating a food label for the Canadian retail market it is never an easy task. One of the challenges that manufacturers and importers face is meeting the English and French bilingual requirements. These Safe Food for Canadian Regulations requirements now apply to all consumer packaging foods, with the exception of local…
How is the SQF Pet Food Manufacturing Code different from the SQF Food Manufacturing Code?
A quick look at the FDA Animal Food Recall and Withdrawal page confirms that animal food safety incidents are on the rise. From potentially elevated levels of aflatoxin, elevated levels of vitamins, Salmonella, Listeria, issues with nutrition claims, or choking hazards, the list of health hazards associated with pet food is well documented. It is…
Top 10 reasons why you require a Certified SQF Consultant for your Certification Project
In the past 10 years, the Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification has grown significantly to include many small food manufacturers, food packaging manufacturers, storage and distribution providers and now pet food and animal food businesses. According to market analysts, this trend is destined for further growth. Linkedin Pulse predicts that the food certification market will…
Starting a Food-Importing Business in Canada
Canada is a country known for its diversity. With a growing population of 38 million people from different ethnic backgrounds, Canada offers amazing cultures and foods. All this is possible thanks to the hundreds and thousands of food importers nationwide. As an entrepreneur, you may be interested in joining this growing industry and wonder how…
Conducting a Consumer Sensory Test Using Tastelweb® Cloud-Based Software
The objective of consumer sensory tests or "affective tests" is to differentiate food products based on consumer preference levels. Assessors should be familiar with the food or beverage that they are assessing for taste and flavor so that they may express degrees of product acceptance, preference, or dislike. An adequate number of observations should be…
Food Defense Plan Compliance under FSMA
Initially published on May 27, 2016, US FDA’s Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration regulation (“the IA rule”) aims at preventing intentional adulteration from acts intended to cause wide-scale harm to public health, including acts of terrorism targeting the food supply. The rule applies to domestic and foreign companies that are required to…
Understanding the updated Listeria Policy (Canada)
Health Canada has recently released The Listeria Policy (2023), a regulatory document that supersedes the previous policy from 2011. Prepared by Health Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the policy focuses on the safety of Ready-To-Eat foods (RTE) offered for consumption in Canada…
Aegle Nutrition LLC – SQF Certification Project, Case Study
Aegle Nutrition LLC is a U.S.-based manufacturer of nutritional supplements and nutraceuticals founded in 2013 with top industry professionals who recognized a need to provide a different standard of customer service and expertise. AEGLE Nutrition’s facility is based in Carrollton, Texas, and is a state-of-the-art certified GMP and FDA-registered facility built to exceed quality and…
US FDA Releases A New Edition of the Food Code
First published in 1997, the US FDA just released the 2022 edition of the Food Code, thereby marking 30 years of the FDA Food Code in its current format. Written with the current understanding of food safety and science principles, the consumer health guideline (“the model code”) ensures that food products purchased at retail or…