SQF Audit 2022 by Karen Yardley
For those of you who don’t know, SQF stands for Safe Quality Food and is our annual certification audit. As a third-party audit (meaning it is not an in - ternal, customer or regulatory audit), the main goal of the SQF standard is to reduce the incidence of unsafe food products reaching the marketplace. SQF stands between Crest Foods and our customers to give an unbiased opinion on our ability to produce safe food.
The Packaging Division has been certified since 2010 so our most recent audit, conducted March 8-11, 2022 was a re-certification. Crest Foods’ Ingredient Division is also certified by SQF (and has been since 2010) as is the Kar- lin Foods’ Distribution Center (KFDC is staffed and supported by the Packaging Division and has been audited by SQF since 2011). Audits are scheduled each year in the February to April timeframe. Most years we schedule the audits and can request a certain auditor but cannot be audited by the same auditor more than three years in a row. Audits are unan- nounced every third year. Crest is due for an unannounced audit in 2023. February 6th – April 6th will be our “audit window.” SQF has been revised through the years and we are currently in Edition 9. We are audited under Module 2, the backbone of the Food Safety System and Module 11, which is industry specific. Some randomly chosen employees participated in a fun activity to help us prepare for the audit this year called “Traffic Light Trivia.” Placards with questions and photos were prepared with questions pertaining to information or practices that we should be aware of and practicing every day as we continue to improve our food safety policies, programs and practices. Correct answers earned employees “Crest Dollars” to be spent at the Crest Store. A lot of fun was had as we coached employees on these important topics. And it all paid off ! Congratulations to all three areas on tremendous scores this year. “EXCELLENT” scores actually, since all three areas scored between 96 - 100, which is the top category for SQF certified companies. Pack- aging Division scored a 96, tying our best score ever. Ingredient Division scored a perfect 100 this year and KFDC scored a 99. The auditor was very complimentary of all of our employees – those he interviewed during the audit and those he observed while touring the facilities. Your hard work earned these great scores! Keep it up!
Traffic Light Trivia
As mentioned above, Jon and Becca hit the production floor this February with Traffic Light Trivia/Crest Cash Cab in an effort to get everyone ready for our annual Safe Quality Food audit. Employees were randomly chosen and quizzed about safety and GMP’s, and if they answered correctly they won Crest Cash Cab Bucks to the Crest Store! Not wanting to limit the fun to SQF time only, these 2 have decided to let everyone play year-round. Questions and categories will change throughout the year, so feel free to play whenever you see the traffic cone and taxi driver on the pro- duction floor!
Jon Bakener, Kelsie White & Becca Dodd
4 Crest Ink Januiary, February & March 2022
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