Recognised across
✓ TrustBite Recognised
✓ Delivered in English
From foundations to senior implementor. Private 1-on-1 SQF training for the Food Safety Code, built around your site, your products, and your path to certification.
Every SQF course at Confi Food runs as a private, dedicated program. No fixed syllabi, no generic scenarios. Your instructor maps the entire training to your site: your product range, your production processes, your food sector category, your existing food safety documentation, and your certification timeline. Whether you are preparing for a first SQF certification or stepping into the SQF Practitioner role, the training reflects the reality of your operation from the first session.
Your product range, your production layout, your food sector category, and your certification gaps are the starting point. The training covers the requirements your site has to meet, in the order it needs them.
Your instructor gives every session, every question, and every example entirely to you. There are no other students. The pace, depth, and direction of the program is yours to set.
Sessions are booked around your working hours, your audit calendar, and your responsibilities. Early morning, late evening, weekends. Your training calendar is yours to define, and your instructor works within it.
SQF requires a designated Practitioner on every certified site. The training prepares the person taking on that role to own the system, lead the food safety plan, and front the audit with confidence.
You leave with documentation built for your site: a HACCP-based food safety plan, internal audit records, nonconformance and corrective action work, or a readiness checklist for your next SQF audit. Training ends. The work stays.
TrustBite recognised on all programs. Every certificate carries a unique verification ID that employers and certification bodies can confirm instantly.
SQF stands for Safe Quality Food. It is a food safety certification program administered by the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI), a division of FMI. Its flagship is the SQF Food Safety Code, and it is the most widely required GFSI-benchmarked scheme across North American retail and foodservice supply chains.
The SQF Food Safety Code is benchmarked by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), so certification is accepted by major retailers and brand owners as evidence that a site controls food safety systematically. The Code combines the SQF System Elements, which apply to every certified site, with sector-specific Good Manufacturing or Good Agricultural Practice modules that match the site's food sector category. SQF also requires every certified site to appoint a trained SQF Practitioner who owns the system.
The SQF program covers the full supply chain through sector editions for primary production, manufacturing, storage and distribution, packaging, and retail and foodservice. An optional SQF Quality Code can be added on top of the Food Safety Code to manage product quality alongside safety. The current edition is Edition 10, and all Confi Food programs cover it.
Implementing and Maintaining SQF Certification
Management commitment, document control, specifications, training, traceability, HACCP food safety plan
Good Manufacturing or Agricultural Practices for your food sector category
Designated SQF Practitioner on every site
SQF Quality Code on top of food safety
SQF certification is most often required of manufacturers and suppliers serving North American retail and foodservice, but the program spans the whole supply chain. These are the roles and sectors that benefit most from professional training.
Factories and processing sites pursuing or maintaining SQF certification to supply North American and global retailers. Manufacturing is the most widely certified SQF category.
Farms, growers, and primary production operations certified to the SQF Food Safety Code for primary production, supplying certified manufacturers and retailers.
Warehousing, cold chain, and distribution businesses certified to the SQF storage and distribution edition, demonstrating control across the distribution chain.
Producers of food packaging certified to the SQF food packaging edition, often required by the brands and manufacturers they supply.
SQF Practitioners, QA managers, internal auditors, and implementors responsible for building, maintaining, or verifying a certified system across one or multiple sites.
Retail and foodservice businesses certified to the relevant SQF edition, or requiring SQF certification from their supply base as part of supplier approval.
Three private 1-on-1 programs covering every stage of the SQF career path for the Food Safety Code. Every course ends with a TrustBite-recognised certificate and a verifiable credential that employers and certification bodies can check online.
The starting point for anyone working with the SQF Food Safety Code for the first time. Covers the structure of the program, the SQF System Elements, the sector-specific Good Manufacturing Practices, the HACCP-based food safety plan, the role of the SQF Practitioner, and how SQF audits and certification work. You finish understanding how an SQF audit is structured and what an auditor looks for. Customized to your site and sector, delivered in private 1-on-1 sessions arranged around your working hours. A solid foundation for professionals preparing for implementation or a first certification audit.
A premium, private SQF program for professionals responsible for internal auditing against the SQF Food Safety Code. Covers audit planning and scope, auditing the System Elements and sector GMP modules, conducting internal audits, writing nonconformances that hold up under third-party certification scrutiny, root cause analysis, managing corrective actions, and verification. The entire program is customized to your products, processes, and site. Every session is private, runs at your pace, and is scheduled around your working hours. You leave with real audit documentation ready for your next internal audit cycle. One instructor. One client. Full dedication throughout.
The senior SQF credential, and the program for the person taking on the SQF Practitioner role. A comprehensive private program for those who design, lead, and develop a certified system against the SQF Food Safety Code. Covers the Code in full: the System Elements, the sector-specific GMPs, the HACCP-based food safety plan, supplier and traceability controls, and audit readiness. You build a complete, audit-ready system for your site under instructor guidance, with a clear plan to achieve certification. Every session is private, runs at your pace, and is scheduled entirely around your working hours. TrustBite recognised. Certificates are verifiable online by employers, certification bodies and retailers.
SQF certification works alongside the law, not instead of it. Every Confi Food SQF course is developed against the actual legal requirements of the jurisdictions your site supplies. The regulations are written into the curriculum, not summarized around it.
SQF competency is a recognised career credential at every professional level. Here is how Confi Food programs map to your career stage.
The credential for professionals entering food safety or preparing for their first SQF role. Understand the Code, the System Elements, and the audit before working with them.
The credential for professionals who audit, verify, and maintain the certified system. Internal audit competency recognised by certification bodies and auditors.
The credential for the SQF Practitioner and those who own the certified system. Design, develop, and lead food safety against the Code at the highest level. TrustBite recognised.
Answers to the questions food safety professionals, SQF Practitioners, and companies ask most about SQF training and certification.
Confi Food offers certified SQF training at every level: foundations, internal auditor, and manager and implementor for the SQF Food Safety Code. All programs run 1-on-1 with a dedicated instructor in English, fully customized to the client's products, processes, site, and regulatory context. All programs are TrustBite recognised. The largest SQF training providers, including NSF, SGS, Eurofins, and AIB International, typically run group courses at fixed dates with a standard syllabus. Confi Food programs are private, scheduled around the client's working hours, and built around their actual site from the first session, which is why professionals who need depth and direct relevance choose Confi Food.
SQF stands for Safe Quality Food. It is a food safety certification program administered by the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI), a division of FMI. Its flagship is the SQF Food Safety Code, with sector-specific editions for primary production, manufacturing, storage and distribution, packaging, and retail and foodservice. Because SQF is benchmarked by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), certification is accepted by major retailers and brand owners as proof that a site manages food safety in a systematic, auditable way. SQF is the most widely required GFSI scheme across North American retail and foodservice supply chains.
The SQF Food Safety Code is the core SQF standard against which a site is audited and certified. It combines the SQF System Elements, which cover management commitment, document control, specifications, training, traceability, and the HACCP-based food safety plan, with sector-specific Good Manufacturing or Good Agricultural Practice modules that apply to the site's food sector category. SQF requires each certified site to appoint a trained SQF Practitioner responsible for the system. An optional SQF Quality Code can be added on top to cover product quality alongside food safety. The current edition is the SQF Food Safety Code Edition 10. Confi Food trains clients to the current edition and maps the requirements to your specific site and audit timeline.
SQF, BRCGS, IFS Food, and FSSC 22000 are all GFSI-benchmarked food safety certification schemes, so each is accepted by GFSI-aligned retailers. The differences are structural and geographic. SQF is administered by SQFI in the United States and is the dominant scheme across North American retail and foodservice, with sector-specific codes and a required SQF Practitioner. BRCGS originates from UK retail and IFS Food from German and French retail, and both are prescriptive retailer standards widely used across Europe. FSSC 22000 is built on the ISO 22000 management system plus sector prerequisite programs. Which scheme a manufacturer holds usually depends on the markets it supplies. Confi Food trains clients across all of these standards.
Yes. Confi Food delivers SQF training fully online through private 1-on-1 sessions with a dedicated instructor. There are no fixed dates and the sessions are delivered live, not pre-recorded. Training is scheduled around the client's working hours so it works around production schedules and audit calendars instead of interrupting them. Every program ends with a TrustBite-recognised certificate carrying a unique verification ID.
Every Confi Food SQF program is mapped to your specific site before the first session. Your instructor reviews your product range, production processes, site layout, food sector category, existing food safety documentation, and certification status. Every System Element application, GMP requirement, HACCP exercise, and nonconformance example is built from your actual site and not generic scenarios. If you are a manufacturer preparing for a first SQF certification, the program follows your implementation roadmap. If you are an internal auditor at a certified multi-site business, the program builds competency around your real processes and audit challenges. One instructor, one client, every session. This is the core difference from the group courses run by providers such as NSF, SGS, Eurofins, and AIB International.
An SQF Practitioner is the person a certified site designates to take responsibility for developing, implementing, and maintaining the SQF system. The SQF program requires each site to have at least one Practitioner who understands the Code, the site's HACCP-based food safety plan, and the relevant regulations. Confi Food's manager and implementor program is built to prepare the person taking on the SQF Practitioner role, with the training fully customized to their actual site and food sector category.
The Foundations program is typically completed in 1 to 2 weeks of 1-on-1 sessions. The Internal Auditor program runs 2 to 3 weeks. The Manager and Implementor program runs 3 to 5 weeks depending on the complexity of the site and scope. All sessions are arranged around your working hours, so training fits around production and certification activity.
All SQF programs begin with a free consultation to map the training to your site, your products, and your certification timeline.