Safe Quality Food — a GFSI-recognized scheme common across North American retail supply chains.
SQF stands for Safe Quality Food. It is a family of food safety and quality codes administered by SQFI, a division of FMI — The Food Industry Association — and it is benchmarked against GFSI.
SQF is written as a set of codes rather than one standard, each aimed at a different point in the supply chain: primary production, manufacturing, storage and distribution, and so on. A farm is audited against the code that matches what it does, in the edition of the code that is current at the time.
The characteristic that most distinguishes SQF in practice is the practitioner requirement. The scheme expects a named person employed by the business, trained in HACCP and familiar with the code, to be responsible for the system. You cannot fully outsource ownership of an SQF system to a consultant.
SQF codes are revised on an edition cycle. Confirm which code and edition apply to your operation with SQFI or your certification body before preparing — requirements and audit expectations move between editions.
SQF is very common among North American retail and foodservice buyers, particularly for operations that pack, process or store product rather than only growing it.
For a produce business it typically appears when you supply a retailer directly, when you run a packinghouse or fresh-cut line, or when a processor customer needs its inbound supply certified to the same level as its own facility.
Facility-based operations where a manufacturing-oriented code fits naturally.
Farms certified against the primary production code because their buyer's programme names SQF.
Coolers and distribution operations handling product they did not grow.
Operations that want food safety and quality assessed together rather than separately.
Codes are written for different parts of the chain — primary production, manufacturing, storage and distribution among them. Your activities determine which applies.
SQF offers an entry-level food safety fundamentals route for smaller or less complex operations, the full food safety code that carries GFSI recognition, and an additional quality code layered on top.
A named employee, HACCP-trained and competent in the code, responsible for developing and maintaining the system.
Management commitment, food safety plan based on HACCP, prerequisite programs, verification, internal audits, traceability and recall.
Documentation is assessed alongside a physical audit of the operation, and the outcome is expressed as a score and a rating.
Recertification runs yearly, and unannounced audits are part of the scheme's approach to verification.
Level names, code numbering and rating bands vary by edition. Treat this as the shape of the scheme, not as a substitute for the current code document.
This trips up small operations more than any other part of the scheme. The practitioner must be employed by the business — not a consultant on retainer — must have completed HACCP training, and must be competent to implement and maintain the SQF system for your specific operation.
For a family farm or a small packhouse that usually means somebody already doing another job takes it on. Budget for their training and, more importantly, for the hours the role actually takes during the season. A practitioner who exists only on the organisation chart is visible to an auditor within an hour.
A consultant can still help you build the system. What they cannot do is be your practitioner.
GAP APP is not an SQF-specific product, and it will not replace your practitioner. What it does is hold the evidence layer the code depends on: the HACCP plan, the daily records, the training files, supplier documents, corrective actions and the traceability chain, all with dates and authorship attached.
For a small operation where the practitioner is also running the packhouse, that difference matters — the records accumulate as work happens rather than becoming a second job in the weeks before an audit.
HACCP plan, daily logs, training records, suppliers and traceability in one place.
GAP APP provides audit-preparation tools and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or accredited by GFSI, Azzule Systems, SQFI, CanAgPlus, GLOBALG.A.P. or USDA. Certification decisions are made solely by accredited certification bodies and their auditors.