This year’s SQF Unites Conference was held in New Orleans. Over 600 participants gathered to learn and connect with colleagues and industry experts. The conference agenda included discussions about SQF Edition 10. The SQF Town Hall event discussed the launch of CMX1, the new SQF Assessment database platform and a new credential for SQF practitioners.…
On January 30, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) published an updated Hazard Guide as part of a revised draft guidance for the implementation of the PCHF rule under FSMA. The significant updates summarize comments that the US FDA received on the 2016 draft guidance for the Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive…
If you keep informed on tech news, you know that digitized food safety systems have been very popular in the past few years. We have blogged on this topic before. Small businesses with paper based HACCP and SQF systems can easily commit to digital SQF implementations. To be successful, start with the right tools. Introducing…
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…
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…
Pest Management is one of the critical HACCP pre-requisite programs (PRPs) which support site Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). A review of the last SQFI audit statistics shows that pest control requirements are at the top list of major non-conformities. A pest management program within a food storage or manufacturing facility involves monitoring pests including insects,…
Risk Assessment is an important activity in food safety and quality management. GFSI standards such as BRC Global Standards and the SQF code require the documentation of risk assessments as part of the certification process. One needs only to read the standards to see that the notion of risk assessment and mitigation form the basis…
System verification is an important component of SQF. Third-party audit stats for SQF often show that this element is non-compliant. Verification confirms that the Food Safety Management System is functioning as planned. The purpose of verification is to demonstrate that the food safety plan is science-based and that CCP is effective at controlling the significant…
Safe Quality Food (SQF) is a popular food safety certification scheme that is benchmarked to GFSI international requirements. The scheme is owned by SQFI (a branch of the Food Industry Association); the standard was first published in May 1995. SQFI issues about 11,000 certificates yearly across 40 countries and 6 continents.1 According to FMI (2022),…
Compressed air requirements in the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Edition 9 Code - Food Manufacturing reference the use of inert gasses or air that contacts food or food surfaces such as packaging or equipment surfaces. In the food and beverage industry, inert gases are used for sparging (ex: nitrogen in wine or in nitro coffee)…