Food Safety Quality

[Jesper Sahu]

Globalizationhas revolutionized the food supply chain, and with it comes a whole new world of existing opportunities for companies. As countries globally increase their demand for food ingredients and raw materials, protecting the consumer while promoting food safety, security, and quality throughout the supply chain is imperative.

GFSI, the Global Food Safety Initiative, is a collaborative effort among food industry stakeholders. It aims to guarantee the safety of food products across the supply chain by setting globally recognized standards. GFSI ensures consistency and fosters continuous improvement in food safety practices through its benchmarks for food safety management systems.

SQF is a food safety standard recognized by GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative). GFSI has approved SQF as one of the benchmarked schemes that meet their stringent requirements for food safety management systems. This recognition means that companies implementing SQF can demonstrate compliance with GFSI's global standards, enhancing their credibility and market access.

Our mission is to deliver consistent, globally recognized food safety and quality certification programs based on sound scientific principles, applied across all industry sectors, and valued by all stakeholders.

At our core, we are dedicated to upholding the highest standards in food safety. Achieving SQF certification is not only a testament to your commitment to quality and safety but also a reflection of your unwavering dedication to meeting and exceeding industry regulations.

By becoming SQF certified, your company will not only enhance its reputation as a trusted and reliable partner in the food industry but also open doors to new business opportunities. SQF certification serves as a powerful differentiator, setting you apart from competitors and instilling confidence in your customers and stakeholders.

In a 2000 survey, FMI members identified food safety as the number one issue that had a dramatic impact on their daily operations. Members recognized that success would require a total management approach, which begins with the producer or manufacturer.

FMI acknowledged that incorporating a site certification program would bolster their existing food safety initiatives, including in-store operations, employee training, and consumer education. The Site Program serves as the cornerstone for ensuring food safety across the entire supply chain. The SQF Food Safety Management Program effectively coordinates adherence to buyer specifications and pre-requisite programs (such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), etc.), thereby providing further assurance to the integrity of the food chain. By encompassing farm-to-fork, the SQF program is a valuable tool for effectively managing food safety and quality.

SQF certification provides an independent and external verification that a product, process, or service complies with international, regulatory, and other specified standard(s) and enables a food producer to give assurances that food has been produced, prepared, and handled according to the highest possible standards.

In 1995, the first edition of SQF 2000 was issued, and in the year 2000, SQF 1000 for primary producers was released. The SQF 2000 Code was endorsed by GFSI in 2004, and the SQF 1000 Code was endorsed by GFSI in 2005. In 2008, the codes were revised and resubmitted to GFSI; both codes were benchmarked. The SQF Codes are based on sound science, universally accepted CODEX Alimentarius HACCP Guidelines, and the ISO 17065, and they offer the food sector a way to manage food safety and quality simultaneously. The SQF Codes are designed to help sites achieve the necessary level of food safety certification.

Each code builds on previous editions to provide a continuous improvement certification pathway. Sites can join the pathway at a level that best suits their business and market needs or choose to progress through the different levels offered.

The Safe Quality Food (SQF) (ANAB Accredited, SQF Code Edition 9.0) Program is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked food safety standard based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). NSF Food Safety Certification, LLC is accredited to certify to the SQF.

Working every day in more than 80 countries to bring food assistance to millions of children, women and men, the World Food Programme (WFP) must ensure that the food it delivers is safe, nutritious and of good quality. Vigilance is all the more important given the often harsh conditions we operate in. The food we distribute travels long distances by road, sea and air, and ideal storage environments can be difficult to guarantee.

All food purchased by WFP must comply with set requirements, or specifications. These align with international standards, national legislation and specific regulations in the countries of destination.

The selection of suppliers, including sub-contracted food processors, is based on strict criteria and includes a preliminary assessment and a technical visit. We organize frequent inspections of processing and packaging premises and warehouses, and conduct product tests. Whenever food is suspected of falling below WFP quality standards, it is immediately withdrawn from distribution and quarantined until it is proven to be safe for human consumption.

Mission:

The mission of the Nutrition, Food Safety and Quality staff is to coordinate and lead ARS research to: define the role of food and its components in optimizing health for all Americans; develop tests and processes that keep the food supply safe; reduce and control pathogens and toxins in agricultural products; and improve the economic viability and competitiveness of American agriculture by enhancing the quality and utilization of agricultural commodities for the benefit of producers and consumers.

FSQ Services specializes in food safety training and food safety plan development (FSMA/HACCP) as well as assisting organizations achieve third-party audit certification such as BRC, SQF, FSSC 22000, AIB, and others.

FSQ Services specializes in food safety training and food safety plan development (FSMA/HACCP) as well as assisting organizations achieve third-party audit certification such as BRC, SQF, FSSC 22000, AIB, and others. Learn More

Food safety and quality are embedded in our culture and prioritized by every Smithfield team member, from our farms and plants to our corporate offices. We are proud of our strong food safety policies, procedures and performance. To learn more, view our food safety and quality video.

Producing safe, wholesome products for our customers and consumers is our focus, and we operate under programs and policies that promote food safety and quality at every step of our value chain. To ensure adherence to these programs and policies, we employ data analytics to monitor food safety indicators and take corrective action if necessary.

One of our top food safety initiatives is eliminating the potential for any microbiological, chemical or foreign materials in our products. In 2023, we installed X-ray machines in 15 of our 41 processing facilities to detect foreign materials that could trigger a product recall.

The University Certificate in Food Safety & Quality Management provides individuals an opportunity to learn basic food safety, quality control, and operations management concepts that are useful throughout the food manufacturing supply chain. It is available to non-degree seeking students and both undergraduate and graduate students at NC State University.

Please note that you have been re-directed from the old food safety and quality website ( ) to the new public information repository. The old website has been decommissioned for technical reasons.

New ingredients and different types of production processes are disrupting the beverage industry. Our microbial detection solutions will help you maintain a consistent quality across the entire production chain.

We provide reliable and easy-to-use solutions using bioinformatics, metagenomics, and innovative out-of-the-box R&D to deliver unmatched value and data-rich insights to the food safety and quality community.

Move from test results to actionable insights and make impactful decisions in under 30 hours with GENE-UP TYPER. This real-time PCR assay utilizes probabilistic typing of specific microorganisms to help identify the root cause of contamination and avoid future recurrence.

Eckes-Granini, the leading supplier of fruit juices and beverages in Europe. They've trusted D-COUNT for over 20 years and use it daily to prevent unwanted fermentation, ensure product quality, and make faster decisions to limit scrap and faster product release.

Lata is one of the France's largest dairy cooperatives. They've trusted bioMrieux to detect, monitor and investigate every step of the infant formula production process in order to minimize the risk of contamination.

An infant formula manufacturer recently confirmed C.Sakazakii was present in the environment, raw materials, and in-process and finished product. When standard mitigation practices did not resolve the issues, they turned to bioMrieux to help solve their unanswered questions.

bioMrieux, who is recognised for its global expertise in food safety and quality, highlights, after a confidential phase, its innovative ecosystem: Augmented Diagnostics (formerly Predictive Diagnostics, name during the project phase), which was rewarded by the Food Safety Innovation Award 2022

The Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor (CFSQA) is a professional who understands the standards and principles of auditing a Food Safety and HACCP-based (or process-safety) system. A CFSQA uses various tools and techniques to examine, question, evaluate and report on that system's adequacy and deficiencies. The CFSQA analyzes all elements of the system and reports on how well it adheres to the criteria for management and control of process safety.

3a8082e126