SQF: Safe Quality Food and Americold

It's not just an acronym to us, it's our commitment to you that we'll take good care of your products and your brand's reputation.

Farmers Market

Food safety is more than
just a passing grade

Americold adheres to the Safe Quality Food (SQF) scheme for the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). We’re dedicated to safe and compliant warehousing and transportation operations.

Proper temperature management is the most obvious attribute in a long list of critically important checks and balances set up to restrict detrimental environments that may affect your products. You can be confident that your products are being received, stored, and distributed under exacting environmental conditions and temperature specifications. Simply put: We handle your products as you would handle them yourselves.

The quality of your product is your reputation. The quality of our care reflects that.

Hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls

To comply with the new FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls Rule, we’re shifting our focus from responding to contamination to preventing it altogether. Guided by our Americold Operating System (AOS) methodology, we’re continually improving operating processes to eliminate or minimize the potential for food safety issues to arise.

To comply with the new FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls Rule, we’re shifting our focus from responding to contamination to preventing it altogether. Guided by our Americold Operating System (AOS) methodology, we’re continually improving operating processes to eliminate or minimize the potential for food safety issues to arise.

Safe quality food (SQF) certification

All of our facilities are held to the highest food-safety standards, qualifying them to be certified to the SQF code. Our tiered roll-out process ensures thorough preparation and process implementation for successful certification without any detrimental effects on facility operations that might disrupt our customers’ supply chains.

All of our facilities are held to the highest food-safety standards, qualifying them to be certified to the SQF code. Our tiered roll-out process ensures thorough preparation and process implementation for successful certification without any detrimental effects on facility operations that might disrupt our customers’ supply chains.

Validation

We’re laser-focused on the safety of our operations. All Americold facilities are subject to unannounced safety audits by third-party independent auditing firms as well as impromptu inspections from local, state, and national regulatory agencies.

We’re laser-focused on the safety of our operations. All Americold facilities are subject to unannounced safety audits by third-party independent auditing firms as well as impromptu inspections from local, state, and national regulatory agencies.

65% and counting

We’ve SQF-certified two-thirds of our U.S. facilities but we’re not done yet!

Frequently asked questions

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What are some examples of controls employed by Americold warehouses to keep my food safe?

Each Americold facility follows FDA-mandated requirements for documenting and implementing Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls. As food is received and shipped at our warehouses, product temperatures are collected, recorded, and verified to meet customers’ strict requirements. Trailers are inspected to ensure they are capable of maintaining food security and product integrity. During storage, cold room temperatures are monitored multiple times per day to ensure tight temperature control. Additionally, Americold facilities deploy several other food safety perquisite programs, such as allergen control to prevent allergen cross contact, cleaning and sanitation, preventive maintenance, and pest control.

What are some of the requirements of Safe Quality Food for Storage and Distribution?

SQF maintains a web page that provides a tremendous amount of information regarding the food safety programs, training opportunities, and detailed requirements: www.sqfi.com. The actual Code for Storage and Distribution can be found under their “Resource Center” and it’s free to download. You can also find additional information about FDA and the recent Food Safety Modernization Act on the same site.

Americold’s Director of Food Safety is an active member of SQF’s Technical Advisory Council and could likely answer any further questions you might have. Contact us for additional information.

Can I receive a copy of the audit report for the warehouse storing my products?

Absolutely – Americold is happy to share food safety audit results with its customers. Please contact your Americold facility’s General Manager.

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Ready to get started?

Contact us online now or call us at  888-808-4877