SQF Edition 9 Guidance
Hi anyone knows when will the Guidance of SQF Edition 9 be published? Thanks.
My understanding is that the guide will be out within the next 45 days.
I was on a webinar today about the edition 9 changes and they said guidance documents should be out late February.
I was on a webinar today about the edition 9 changes and they said guidance documents should be out late February.
Presumably Packaging end of the Year.
So It's spring now and the implementation date is only two months away. Does anyone know when the guidance is coming out?
They always take their sweet time.
During these extraordinary times, SQFI has strived to meet the needs of our clients granting over 600 certificate extensions to date. I’d like to reiterate that those extensions are for “up to 6 months”. This is important to understand for all our stakeholders. If all 600+ facilities take the full six-month extension, Certification Bodies will have the extended certificates to audit plus all their regular audits to schedule. This could certainly create a problem for auditors, CBs and you. I suggest that you stay in touch with your CB, and when it is feasible within the six-month window work with your CB to schedule your audit.
Also, I’ve become aware that individual sites are not registering appropriately. Although we are extending certificates due to extenuating circumstances at the current time, your registration requirements remain consistent. Your site’s registration date is tied to your original re-certification audit date and is not based on the extended re-certification audit date. If your registration is due any time during the six-month extension you are required to register at that time and not wait. Hopefully, next year we will all be able to put this unprecedented event behind us and safely conduct our business normally, until that time please stay safe.
Our audit is unannounced this year from 4/16 through 6/15 right in that sweet window of SQF 8.1 or SQF 9. I'm sure we'll be visited after the May cutoff date requiring us to be compliant with SQF 9. It should be fun because it'll be new for us and our auditor. It will be a LOOOOONNNNG audit....but, hopefully a bit more flexible being new code version and working through it with the auditor.
I've contacted the site several times. One person said it would be the end of March. Now it's April and it's still not listed with less that 60 days until its implementation. I emailed that person again today to inquire when it might be posted but they have not replied. Makes no sense to me.
SQF did reply to email this morning. "The technical team has announced that the guidance documents for this edition will be released before implementation."
SQF did reply to email this morning. "The technical team has announced that the guidance documents for this edition will be released before implementation."
Talk about non-committal. That means they could release them the day before implementation and still be in compliance with this response.
In other news, SQF just published Edition 9 in Spanish.
Hola! Bueno!
Yup...we'll see the guidance come out on May 22nd, and our unannounced audit will commence on May 23rd...my luck is that bad. Ah well.
Edition 9 Guidance Documents have been published!
Instead of one giant document, it looks like they are divided up into categories. They look similar to the Tip Sheets published for Fundamentals.
About the 1 item already plaguing people----CONTRACT MANUFACURERS
"What does it mean? Facilities (sites) that are contracted by the SQF certified site to produce, process, pack and /or store part of or all of one or more products included in the site’s SQF scope of certification are defined as a contract manufacturer
"All the requirements in the code for contract manufacturers and distribution centers combine to ensure these important partners are managing food safety systems similar to the certified site"
https://www.sqfi.com...ce-Document.pdf
It would appear they now DEMAND that even finished goods warehousing/shipping must also be GFSI certified
Me thinks now is a good time to have a really good look at other codes----this is a breach of terms in my opinion and there are a lot of facilities who cannot possible get this changed between today and May 24
About the 1 item already plaguing people----CONTRACT MANUFACURERS
"What does it mean? Facilities (sites) that are contracted by the SQF certified site to produce, process, pack and /or store part of or all of one or more products included in the site’s SQF scope of certification are defined as a contract manufacturer
"All the requirements in the code for contract manufacturers and distribution centers combine to ensure these important partners are managing food safety systems similar to the certified site"
https://www.sqfi.com...ce-Document.pdf
It would appear they now DEMAND that even finished goods warehousing/shipping must also be GFSI certified
Me thinks now is a good time to have a really good look at other codes----this is a breach of terms in my opinion and there are a lot of facilities who cannot possible get this changed between today and May 24
i already have a clarification on this.
if you are reading it for the first time you automatically assume it means that a dc or storage facility is now a contract manufacturer even if they don't touch, repack, or label your food product.
a storage facility could be a contract manufacturer if it met the criteria of being an actual contract manufacturer - this would apply if the storage or dc was in fact repacking, directly handling, or relabeling, etc. such as a 3PL which is involved in this type of activity on a routine basis.
You do know that SQF HAS A TERRIBLE NACK of wording things all F**Ked up and then actually carrying over the mess up into the guidance docs.
Yes, once again they have done just that.
I will continue advising my clients what a storage facility does and what a contract manufacturer is.
Does the SQF Version 9 now define a co-man as a company that manufactures and owns all formulas/packaging, then we purchase from them the finished product (Have zero control over product, just packaging graphics) ? Or is that still defined as a supplier?
Where they control the entire manufacturing process they are seen by customers and stakeholders are requiring the same level of oversight.
Does the SQF Version 9 now define a co-man as a company that manufactures and owns all formulas/packaging, then we purchase from them the finished product (Have zero control over product, just packaging graphics) ? Or is that still defined as a supplier?
That would be a supplier, that has not changed You just buying packaging correct?
SQFI has become a dumpster fire over the last three years. I'm shopping for a new benchmark...
SQFI has become a dumpster fire over the last three years. I'm shopping for a new benchmark...
Agree wholeheartedly. If they cannot proof the code changes to make sure it makes sense, how can we expect auditors to be fair and timely
The guidance that was published is an absolute joke
That would be a supplier, that has not changed You just buying packaging correct?
no we purchase finished product from them. They used their formula(cookies etc.) and their primary packaging. we just send them artwork to put on the packaging.
We send full packaged labeled & sealed finished goods to an ISO Certified facility to ship. They follow & document our shipping requirements (no filth, odor etc..) on the pick ticket and send back to us. Does that site need to be SQF Cert or can I use the ISO, our procedures/SOP's, contract & quarterly auidt to qualify them?
We send full packaged labeled & sealed finished goods to an ISO Certified facility to ship. They follow & document our shipping requirements (no filth, odor etc..) on the pick ticket and send back to us. Does that site need to be SQF Cert or can I use the ISO, our procedures/SOP's, contract & quarterly auidt to qualify them?
Do you mean iso9001 ?
Yes - they are only ISO certified not GFSI.
Edition 9 Guidance Documents have been published!
Instead of one giant document, it looks like they are divided up into categories. They look similar to the Tip Sheets published for Fundamentals.
But, do we have any ideas about the different Mods? These individual ones don't cover the whole. It would be SO much easier getting up to code with the guidance documents. Still don't see any updates on time frames.
Do you mean iso9001 ?
I meant iso9001 as against iso22000.