Wondering if I need seperate SQF site certification.
I work for a food manufacturing facility. We have recently decided to lease a warehouse to store finished goods and raw materials at. Management and SQF Practitioner all work on site at the manufacturing facility, but we will hire and train employees to work at the offsite warehouse and complete occasional visits and internal audits. The issue is that the warehouse will be 2 hours away from the food manufacturing facility. Can I certify the site under my current SQF food manufacturing code, or will I need to pursue a separate warehouse SQF certificate? How would I handle audits when the 2 sites are 2 hours away from each other? Would I need a separate SQF Practitioner for the warehouse?
You'll need a separate certification - for storage and distribution.
You can use the same SQF Practitioner from your facility as the main Practitioner but will still need someone at the storage facility (a backup SQF Practitioner.)
You need a back-up there regardless - While I have had clients that do this, considering it is 2 hours away and not just down the road, I would suggest having a key Practitioner at that site as well - You will have to have a back-up anyway, so might as well go ahead and designate another Practitioner there.
Frankly one location is enough, 2 can be grueling.