What Does SQF Certified Mean?
SQF Certification in the Nutrition Bar Industry
Being SQF certified is a worldwide food safety program that is designed to deliver consistent standards of quality across all industry sectors. This ensures that only the highest quality raw ingredients make their way into SQF products and are handled by trained food safety professionals at every stage of the development process.
Clean Copack is a certified SQF co-packer, but what does that mean exactly?
The Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification impacts every step of a certified co-packer’s development process—from sourcing the right ingredients to producing the finished product. Recognized around the world as the standard for food safety, the SQF certification exemplifies the top-quality care that its certified co-packers exhibit.
What is the SQF Certification?
The SQF certification is a worldwide food safety program that is designed to deliver consistent standards of quality across all industry sectors. This ensures that only the highest quality raw ingredients make their way into SQF products and are handled by trained food safety professionals at every stage of the development process.
This is a renewable certification that requires constant accountability throughout its awarded time. The components of the SQF certification include:
- Verifiable proof
- Management commitment
- Documents and records control
- Product identification, traceability, withdrawal, and recall
- Specification and supplier approval
- Training
- System verification
- Food defense
- Food safety system
- Allergen control
These identifiable steps help to monitor the robust level of care and commitment to which companies hold their production process to ensure the highest quality product for consumers.
SQF and the Nutrition Bar Industry
In the nutrition bar industry, the SQF certification indicates companies that have a high level of dedication to their customers’ well-being.
This is especially evident in how SQF specifically requests that everyone involved in the production process, from management to packers, must receive regular training on hygiene and safety, as well as SQF standards. Members of the management team are designated on-site SQF practitioners and monitor daily food safety objectives.
Because the SQF certification is highly demanding, co-packers with the SQF certification demonstrate their commitment to providing only the best quality product to their consumers. Not only are their nutrition bars, cookies, snack foods, and healthy protein products produced and packaged in closely monitored conditions, but they are handled by qualified professionals. By earning an SQF certification, co-packers provide an insight into the values and standards guiding the production process of the consumers’ favorite nutrition bars.
Considering an SQF Certified Co-Packer
You’ve created a nutrition bar, and now you want the best co-packer for it. An SQF certification indicates that a co-packer has done the work and is willing to invest as much time, quality, and care into your bar as you have in order to bring it into the hands of customers. Products made by SQF certified co-packers benefit from a worldwide recognized mark of food safety, continual retailer support from the SQFI network, and a commitment to producing the highest quality results in the best conditions.
In short, a partnership with an SQF certified co-packer is an investment in your product.
