Contract Manufacturer Requirements

My company is looking at hiring a contract manufacturer to help fulfill increasing orders.  I know that the SQF Code states that the contract manufacturer must meet the requirements of the code and be included in our scope of certification as well as receive an annual audit by my company or a 3rd party certification agency.

My question is does the contract manufacturer also have to have the same SQF level as our facility, SQF 3, or is it acceptable to contract with an SQF 2 facility?  If we are permitted to contract with an SQF 2 facility do we need to set up any additional programs, besides auditing, to ensure they are compliant to the quality code?

Any information is appreciated.  Thanks!

The contract manufacturer is required to meet the SQF Code as it applies to your company - this could be achieved by meeting all the requirements of SQF (with or without the optional match up on the Q componment) or any other GFSI certification such as BRC, IFS, FSSC 22000, etc.  Or they could be SQF or any GFSI scheme certified.

By the way as a contract manufacturer you woud not conduct the annual audit - that would be a conflict.

Their level of certification would be up to you as the manufacturer. You are taking the liability for their products. If you require them to hold a certification including Quality, that's up to you but if you are comfortable with an agreement stating that you accept their food safety program and determine the quality of their product and may reject it based on that, you can accept that option. It releases them from gaining certification making it easier to be a contract manufacturer but places all food safety and quality aspects on you. All of it is up to you but they need to be approved as a contract manufacturer. You may audit their plant / systems as the manufacturer of the finished product but you endanger your own certification if your audit of the contract manufacturer is not accepted at the time of your annual recertification.