SQF Audit Level not listed on report
Greetings,
My company had an SQF Ed8 desk audit in December 2018. We are to have the facility audit next week. NSF is now reaching out to me asking which level we were audited at in December. It is not listed on the report (when I log on to our NSF account). This audit occurred prior to my arrival at my company, so my office manager (not in the office just yet) may have some documentation (invoice, if that would even suffice?).
Any advice as to how to prove this if the level is not listed on the report?
Thanks!
Oh, and if it matters, we had previously been audited SQF Level 1/Food Safety Fundamentals in April 2018. Once a company has been audited at a level, can they ever go down a level, or do they maintain or go to the next level?
SQF is not audited to levels anymore. Perhaps they are inquiring on what module(s)/scope?
Somebody at NSF doesn't know? Is this your CB, really?
A. The "LEVELS" are no longer applicable -- it used to be 1, 2, 3 - 1 being the basic for new and emerging companies, Level 2 was HACCP based and that is where we consult and most companies get certified and then there was the quality level.
B. Now it is Basic, General class (what I call it) and what was level 3 is Quality now - technically speaking it is 2 sections of the audit the general and the quality.
C. SQF sure does make things confusing don't they.
In April of 2018 Level 1 was no longer - the term "level 1" no longer applied.
Obviously from the basic entry point for SQF there is no going down a step - but you can go up.
You should call NSF and ask the person inquiring if they are new and have not been trained properly.
The other interesting question this brings up are two things...
1. How was your company audited at Level 1 - when the term Level 1 was no longer in use at that date.
2. I;m rather amazed are at the lag of time between your December 2018 audit and now your upcoming facility audit - normally the spread is more like 1-2 months for the faciltiy audit to follow the desk audit, why so much time lag?
Finally you mention that your company was audited in April 2018 - huh? Was that a desk audit or a facility audit and then why is a new desk audit done in December of 2018 -- did the company fail it, or drop the cert in between?
Glenn,
Thank you for your thorough reply. I am a little familiar with the new categorizations of the formerly named levels, but NSF continues to refer to them (or at least my contact) as levels. She has been there for a while (not sure how long), and I'm guessing she knows the new terminology but continues to refer to them as levels due to the simplicity of those names.
Good to know that we cannot step down, only up. Makes complete sense, thank you for the clarification.
To answer your questions:
1. I'm going off of the audit report from NSF.
2. At the time of the audit, my company was still quite small and was using the services of a consultant to generate documents necessary for a food safety system. They were extended a 6 month window from the desk audit to the facility audit by NSF.
The April audit from last year had CAs that were not corrected and closed out in time, so the audit was no longer valid.