Food Safety Requirements

I am wondering how much consideration was given to very small manufacturers when developing all these standards.  This seems like another way to eliminate small business from the work force.  We are very small and do not have a team of 10 people to develop any of these programs.  We also don't have the resources to do all the testing that is required.  We make over 300 products and have a clean record as far as food adulteration goes.  Never had anybody get sick.  I think a serious look into the impact all this has on small business should occur.  

Over 300 products yet very small? 

Well, the fact is (and most will not admit to this) that it has always been about knocking out the little guys - just like Walmart coming to town and driving main street USA into the ground.

For instance, why was it that Walmarts, Costco, Home-Depot, Lowes, etc were all open during the Planned - Demic and the little guys were all shut down?

Because they were all part of the Club and main street mom and pops were not.

After all these years in SQF, BRC, FSSC, and blah blah blah, if I was operating a smaller company (which interestingly enough we will be in 2025) I'd set my focus on NOT becoming SQF, BRC, FSSC, etc but on becoming a great small company that has a well implemented and 3rd party audited FSMS - I'd pattern my program after one of the GFSI's, like SQF for instance but knock out all the crap that doesn't mean a thing like food safety culture, what a friggin grey area this is - I'd do the right things and the things that matter so that I run an honest and pure company, giving great value, not poisoning people with bad chemicals and ingredients that are bad for people - as long as I'd feed what we made to myself and family I'd know that I'm loving my customers as well and would be proud to put my name, company name, address and phone number (and not to a call center located in a foreign country) on the packaging instead of hiding behind a plant number.

There is a lot of grey fluff in a lot of these standards, a lot that can be negated, some that are actually needed.

There are changes coming, slowly but surely - but they are coming and they are good.

Most of it is simply customer and consumer driven.  There are lots of things small businesses don't need to comply with, but that also means their potential customer base is narrowed.

Over 300 products yet very small? 

It can be. USDA defines the size by the volume produced in a certain period. It separates it by facility and not company. FDA looks at the profit made by the whole company. Some companies have a ton of products but don't produce then everyday and with small production runs. 

We're a small place with a few hundred products, yup yup.  

I'd suggest bringing in a consultant to help you get moving forward.   That's what we did in the beginning.  (Think of it like your dad giving you a push when you're learning to ride a bike....) We were I think the 1000th company on earth to get the FSSC 22k cert, so we were to the table pretty early, and everyone around us told us we'd never get certified.   Been certified almost 20 years now.   It takes a lot of front end work to make it run smoothly day to day down the line, and I still learn things constantly, and get written up for something every audit, etc etc..   It's a first step on a journey that never ends honestly.

Also, NSF certifications aren't required.   If it seems like too much, don't do it yet, study up, take some classes, launch when you're ready.

MDaleDDF said ---  "I'd suggest bringing in a consultant to help you get moving forward.   That's what we did in the beginning.  (Think of it like your dad giving you a push when you're learning to ride a bike"

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Agreed, and many companies don't bring consultants in at this critical time - they wait until there are issues, or they are up against a fast approaching deadline and think gee we better spend that money we didn't want to spend because many see consultants as a cost when in fact a good consultant can be a profit center - we normally save our clients a lot of un-needed labor time and un-eeded expenses - well beyond what they pay us.  Pushing is a good way of putting it... I like the analogy!!!

Never had anybody get sick.

Never say never... 48 million people reportedly get sick each year in the United States alone, and the actual number is likely higher due to many unreported illnesses. Just because no one has told you they became sick from your product doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

We are also a small company. I am QC, SQF, Rainforest Coordinator, chief cook and bottle washer. It's what you do in a small company.

When we were wanting to do the SQF certification, we hired a consultant. He came in and did a gap assessment to help me get started and then really just mostly did a lot of phone consults to push over the finish line. Although I probably could have done the work alone, it would have taken much longer and there probably would have been tears involved.  Consultant offered to be on hand for audit, but I did not believe that to be necessary. Since we had worked together to on the program, I was confident and knew my stuff when the first audit time arrived. Consultant service is well worth the investment.

Hi irheavyd,

Although a bit late to the party GFSI has launched a new Global Markets Programme - GMaP™:

This work gives smaller companies a way to start meeting the requirements of their customers, gain new customers and supply safe food to local and global markets. Meanwhile, it enhances companies’ compliance with national and international regulatory frameworks such as CODEX while improving food safety culture and practices across geographies.

SQF offer a Fundamentals Program:

Built as a lower level approach, the Fundamentals Program helps integrate robust food safety standards into your existing practices while creating a pathway to achieving globally accepted SQF Certification recognized by GFSI.

Regarding the use of consultants, this has been discussed in previous topics linked below. I have posted my thoughts on the use of consultants in the first topic and have posted an example of the many recommendations we have had in the second and third.

Where to begin Implementing SQF?

My post: As a former on-site consultant, I believe that the cost of a consultant to implement an SQF compliant Food Safety Management System is quite prohibitive. The costs involved are not only the consultant’s fees but also the cost of the consultant's travel, board and lodging during the assignment. Typically, this would be around $4,000/week for an assignment of 4 – 6 months, so up to $100,000.

This is why the IFSQN set up the Food Safety Management System Implementation Packages for GFSI-recognized Certification Programs.

Need to switch from ISO22000 to IFS FOOD

Evans X.: The least painful way would be to hire a consultant to set you up. The least costly but painful, depending how familiar you are, would be to set it up yourselves. If you go for the 2nd option and have the budget, you could purchase the guide from the STORE in this site to ease it up. Regards!

Help my understanding on how to get FSSC 22000 certification

SQFconsultant: If your company wants you to DIY, the best route would be for you to have a consultant do what is known as an FSSC 22000 consulting gap analysis to see where you are right now in respect to food safety management system documentation, condition of facility, etc. and then get the IFSQN development package and DIY your own system, have an FSSC 22000 Auditor come in to do a  pre-audit review and inspection and then go for your official certifying body audit.

Kind regards,

Tony