Safe Quality Food (SQF)

Safe Quality Food (SQF)

The food standard that ensures food is prepared and handled safely

The food standard that ensures food is prepared and handled safely

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The Safe Quality Food Program

The Safe Quality Food (SQF) Program is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognized food safety certification covering all stages of the food supply chain through industry-specific codes ranging from primary production through to food manufacturing, distribution, food packaging and retail.

The SQF Code has been recently revised to Edition 9. As the SQF Codes comprehensively cover all sectors of the food supply chain, you have the flexibility to select the most appropriate certification criteria from the following:



Benefits of adoption

Certification to SQF will demonstrate your commitment to a preventative, risk-based food safety management system, with the added benefits of:

  • Recognition of your organizations commitment to a GFSI best practice food safety certification program, providing your customers, consumers, government enforcement and trade agencies with assurance that effective control systems are in place 
  • Process improvement through proactively identifying and managing food safety hazards and regulatory requirements to avoid stock recoveries, market withdrawal and rework 
  • Options to add quality attributes to your certification which allows for the use of a quality shield to be displayed on the product and marketing 
  • Consistent application across sites, facilitating internal benchmarking and strategic risk management for multi-site operations 
  • Additional support provided by SQFI with a full-time customer service and support centre, access to free webinars supporting the implementation and maintenance of the SQF System and retailer feedback about consumer concerns to keep you a step ahead of your competitors


Why BSI?

The food industry impacts every person on the planet. Though what the world’s population may eat may differ depending on the geography, wealth, age, gender and availability of goods, no other sector plays such a vital role in all of our day-today lives and culture. Economically, food represents 10% of global GDP (valued at US$48 trillion by the World Bank).

But the food sector also faces significant challenges. Each year, food-borne illness makes one in ten people ill and is the cause of death for millions around the world. Population growth projections and an increasing middle class suggest that the demand for food will increase 70% by 2050. And, consumers are increasingly conscious about what goes into their food, how it’s made, its impact on ecosystems and where it comes from.

BSI believes the world deserves food that is safe, sustainable and socially responsible. We support the food sector by developing and publishing standards of best practice, supply chain solutions as well as training and certification to not only the most popular food safety standards, but other business improvement standards that work together to make organizations more resilient.

Working in 172 countries, we pride ourselves on the expertise, integrity and professionalism of our people. Our mission is to help our 80,000 clients, ranging from high-profile global brands to small local companies, survive and prosper in today’s world.

BSI Group is accredited and licensed to offer the SQF scopes that can be verified here.

In addition to the accredited SQF scope, BSI also offers the following programs unaccredited:

·       SQF Food Safety Code for Food Retail

·       SQF Food Safety Code for Food service

·       SQF Fundamentals for Manufacturing (Basic and Intermediate)

·       SQF Fundamentals for Primary Production (Basic and Intermediate)

·       SQF Suppliers Addendums