SQFI Asia Pacific

On behalf of the team at SQFI in USA and SQFI Asia Pacific in Australia, we wish all SQF stakeholders a healthy and prosperous new year, and we look forward to working with you in 2010.

A FREE Quickfire webinar has been arranged for Australian Certification Bodies and SQF auditors on 11th February at 11.00am Australian Eastern Daylight Time. (note: this is a different date to that originally advertised).

It will cover the Quickfire process from a CB/auditor perspective and provide answers to some of the questions posed by auditors. It will also identify some common auditor errors.

There is apparently still some confusion as to the applicable versions of SQF 1000 and SQF 2000. For clarification:

The only applicable version of SQF 2000 is edition 6. This applies to food manufacturers, distributors and brokers. It is not suitable for primary production and does not include primary production food sectors. Edition 6 has been in place since August 2008 and fully applicable since February 2009.
The current version of SQF 1000 is edition 5. It was issued in August 2009 and is applicable from March 2010 for primary producers who are currently on edition 4. It applies to primary production across all primary sectors.
Primary Producers that are currently still on SQF 2000 must transfer to SQF 1000 at their next audit.

Have you considered multi-site certification? This may be an appropriate and less expensive solution for produce growers supplying produce under contract to a central packhouse or processor, or indeed any other primary producers who supply under contract to a central packing or processing facility.

Multi-site certification is an option by which a central site is itself certified to SQF 2000, and plans, manages, and audits the food safety and quality management activities of a network of sub-sites (eg growers) under a contractual link.

The sub-sites may implement either SQF 1000 or 2000 under the control and supervision of the Central Site. The Central Site has a documented internal audit process (which can be contracted out to a consultant) and monitors corrective actions in the sub-sites.

The Central site is externally audited every six months, whilst the sub-sites are only externally audited on a sampling basis. For low risk activities, the sample size at the certification audit is (1.5 x Ö x) whereas for high risk it is (2 x Ö x). In other words if there are 20 growers supplying one packer, only 7 will be externally audited (low risk) at the certification audit. A similar sampling plan exists for surveillance and recertification audits.

For co-operatives, and similar networks, multi-site certification is worth considering (refer p69 of the SQF 2000 Code).

Two SQF auditor training sessions are scheduled for the Asia Pacific region in Melbourne, Australia in March, and Shanghai, PRC in April. Dates are included in Dairy Dates, and registration is on-line through the SQFI web events calendar www.sqfi.com/forms/MeetingCalendar/

SQFI will conduct a series of supplier workshops around Australia in March to explain developments in the SQF programs and answer supplier questions. They will also address the development of electronic audit reporting (Quickfire). Dates are provided in Diary Dates. The workshops are free of charge but suppliers are asked to register by completing the registration form attached (page 4) and returning it to this office.

(Note: this registration form is only for the SQF Supplier Roadshow. Registration for all other events is through the SQFI web-site www.sqfi.com)


	Globally Trusted Food Safety and Quality Certification

		Welcome to the SQFI Asia Pacific
		Contact Details for Asia Pacific Office: T 61 2 9638 0098 \| F 61 2 9638 0258 \| E info@sqfi.com.au HOME \| ABOUT US \| AUSTRALIAN WORKSHOPS \| EVENTS \| NEWSLETTER \| CONTACT US SQF Newsletter Happy New Year On behalf of the team at SQFI in USA and SQFI Asia Pacific in Australia, we wish all SQF stakeholders a healthy and prosperous new year, and we look forward to working with you in 2010. Quickfire Webinar for CBs and Auditors A FREE Quickfire webinar has been arranged for Australian Certification Bodies and SQF auditors on 11th February at 11.00am Australian Eastern Daylight Time. (note: this is a different date to that originally advertised). It will cover the Quickfire process from a CB/auditor perspective and provide answers to some of the questions posed by auditors. It will also identify some common auditor errors. Registration is on-line through the SQFI web events calendar www.sqfi.com/forms/MeetingCalendar/ Applicable Versions of SQF 1000 and SQF 2000 There is apparently still some confusion as to the applicable versions of SQF 1000 and SQF 2000. For clarification: The only applicable version of SQF 2000 is edition 6. This applies to food manufacturers, distributors and brokers. It is not suitable for primary production and does not include primary production food sectors. Edition 6 has been in place since August 2008 and fully applicable since February 2009. The current version of SQF 1000 is edition 5. It was issued in August 2009 and is applicable from March 2010 for primary producers who are currently on edition 4. It applies to primary production across all primary sectors. Primary Producers that are currently still on SQF 2000 must transfer to SQF 1000 at their next audit. Multi-site Certification Have you considered multi-site certification? This may be an appropriate and less expensive solution for produce growers supplying produce under contract to a central packhouse or processor, or indeed any other primary producers who supply under contract to a central packing or processing facility. Multi-site certification is an option by which a central site is itself certified to SQF 2000, and plans, manages, and audits the food safety and quality management activities of a network of sub-sites (eg growers) under a contractual link. The sub-sites may implement either SQF 1000 or 2000 under the control and supervision of the Central Site. The Central Site has a documented internal audit process (which can be contracted out to a consultant) and monitors corrective actions in the sub-sites. The Central site is externally audited every six months, whilst the sub-sites are only externally audited on a sampling basis. For low risk activities, the sample size at the certification audit is (1.5 x Ö x) whereas for high risk it is (2 x Ö x). In other words if there are 20 growers supplying one packer, only 7 will be externally audited (low risk) at the certification audit. A similar sampling plan exists for surveillance and recertification audits. For co-operatives, and similar networks, multi-site certification is worth considering (refer p69 of the SQF 2000 Code). SQF Auditor Training Two SQF auditor training sessions are scheduled for the Asia Pacific region in Melbourne, Australia in March, and Shanghai, PRC in April. Dates are included in Dairy Dates, and registration is on-line through the SQFI web events calendar www.sqfi.com/forms/MeetingCalendar/ SQF Supplier Roadshows SQFI will conduct a series of supplier workshops around Australia in March to explain developments in the SQF programs and answer supplier questions. They will also address the development of electronic audit reporting (Quickfire). Dates are provided in Diary Dates. The workshops are free of charge but suppliers are asked to register by completing the registration form attached (page 4) and returning it to this office. (Note: this registration form is only for the SQF Supplier Roadshow. Registration for all other events is through the SQFI web-site www.sqfi.com)

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Asia Pacific