SQF 2000 REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

SQF 2000 is the food industry's response to ISO 9001. The food industry has probably been controlled and regulated as stringently and for as long, as any industry, if not longer. The style of requirements and auditing, however, has concentrated on what is called Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). These are guidelines and rules on personal cleanliness, integrity of the facility, upkeep and so on.

Typical Quality System standards include so much more than GMPs. One of the leaders was and always has been, ISO 9001. It came out in 1987 as the answer to the multitude of differing quality standards first tier OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) were subjecting their customers to. In the automotive industry alone there was upwards of eight to ten different standards a company would have to prepare for. Once they were ready, they would have to entertain a team of auditors for two to five days or sometimes even more. It was really getting out of hand. In steps the International Organization for Standardization.

I won't go into any more of the history or background, suffice it to say the food industry now has a very capable Quality Management System and they are applying it across the board. Like I said, the food industry has plenty of experience with following standards and documenting what they do but they have very little experiencing when it comes to documenting an actual Quality Management System (QMS).

As an example, a typical QMS will require from 20 to 26 different primary activities or processes. These will range from Management Review, to Supplier Approval to Internal Audits; most of which the food industry may have had in place but not structured. So now, with SQF 2000, the food industry is being asked to structure, define and document their approach to things like that. For the food professional faced with that task the question must be What?

Fortunately, SQF, as do all other major Quality Standards, has a very thorough guideline and set of requirements for the practitioner to review and follow. It is laid out much like the ISO standards. It also includes GMPs and what is referred to as Prerequisite Requirements. Some of the Pre-Reqs are also included in ISO 9000.

All standards get their requirements across by using the word SHALL. Wherever the word shall appears, you can expect to see at least one thing that has to be done. In ISO 9001 the word shall introduces about 350 individual tasks to be completed.

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