To register for an SQF audit in the SQF Assessment Database, click here

Registration Fees:

Effective as of April 1, 2021

The SQF Practitioner must satisfy the below requirements as outlined in section 2.1.2.4 of the SQF Code:

• Be employed by the site as a company employee on a full-time basis
• Have completed a HACCP-based training course
• Be competent to implement and maintain Good Agricultural/Aquacultural/Manufacturing Practices
• Have an understanding of the SQF Code and the requirements to implement and maintain SQF System relevant to the site’s scope of certification.

Please choose either:

Fundamentals (Formerly Level 1)
Food Safety (Formerly Level 2)
Food Safety and Quality (Formerly Level 3)

To achieve SQF food safety certification, you need to document and implement the system elements and the relevant requirements of the SQF Food Safety Code.

First, you need to prepare the policies, procedures, work instructions, and specifications that meet the system elements and modules of the SQF Food Safety Code that you are working with. In other words, “Say what you do.”

Once you are satisfied that the policies, procedures, work instructions, and specifications are in place to meet the SQF requirements, you need to make sure that all documents are being followed and records are being kept demonstrating compliance to the relevant modules of the SQF Food Safety Code that you are working with.

In other words, “Do what you say.” SQFI recommends that a minimum of ninety (90) days of records is available before a site audit is conducted.

Either an SQF auditor or your SQF practitioner can identify the “gaps” between your program and the desired type of SQF certification.

Select the proposal from the Certification Body that best suits your facility and its needs, then schedule an audit with this Certification Body.

Initial Certification Audits consists of both a Document Review (Desk Audit) and a Facility Assessment (Facility Audit).

The SQF food safety auditor(s) review your documentation and the effective implementation of your documented policies, procedures, and specifications. The auditor(s) collect evidence of compliance or non-compliance against all mandatory and applicable elements of the SQF Code by means of review of documentation and records, interviews with key staff, and observation of growing, harvesting, and packaging activities.

The on-site activities include the entire site, including representative fields/plots of production/harvesting, the inside and outside of storage and operational buildings, regardless of the scope of certification and agreed exemptions.

When remote audit activities are used, SQFI expects that the auditor spends 80% of on-site audit time making observations and conducting interviews.

The certification body makes the certification decision based on the evidence of compliance and non-compliance recommended by the SQF food safety auditor during the SQF audit. Although SQFI provides guidance on certification, the certification body is responsible for deciding if certification is justified and granted, based on objective evidence provided by the SQF food safety auditors.