ARLINGTON, VA – The Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI), a global leader in third-party food safety and quality certification, announces the release of their new Fundamentals Program as a food safety solution for small to medium size food producers. The SQF Fundamentals Program meets the technical requirements of the GFSI Global Markets Programme, and was developed using the GFSI Global Markets Programme Toolkit.
Built as a step-wise approach, The SQF Fundamentals Program is designed to help small to medium size food producers integrate robust food safety standards into their existing practices, while creating a pathway to achieving globally accepted GFSI certification.
The Fundamentals Program is in two separate codes; Manufacturing and Primary Production and offers two approaches, basic and intermediate. While both programs include essential food safety requirements, Basic SQF Fundamentals focuses on developing good implementation tools for food safety, and Intermediate SQF Fundamentals builds on the requirements of the Basic approach; including implementation tools and additional requirements regarding documentation.
“The goal of the SQF Fundamentals Program is to help protect the brands of small and medium enterprises from the risk of a recall and satisfy their buyer’s requirements. The SQF Fundamentals Program helps to facilitate retailer acceptance of entrepreneurs, providing food safety and acceptance along the supply chain,” said Robert Garfield, SQFI’s Chief Food Safety Assessment Officer & SVP.
Training and free resources are available at www.sqfi.com to help businesses learn and prepare for the program. Interested suppliers should begin the process of preparing their facilities now so they are ready for the January 1, 2019, implementation date.
For more information about the SQF Fundamentals Program, please visit www.sqfi.com
About the SQF Program
Recognized by retailers and foodservice providers around the world who require a stringent, credible food safety management system, The Safe Quality Food Institute delivers consistent, globally recognized food safety and quality certification programs based on sound scientific principles, consistently applied across all industry sectors, and valued by all stakeholders. Administered by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), SQF benefits from continual retailer feedback about consumer concerns which are passed on food suppliers.
Source: SQF Program