As more and more 3PLs are popping up, and warehouses are providing quotes and rates for the services they offer, it is becoming increasingly important to know that your product will be safe with the company that you are considering. Certifications are a great way of making sure that your 3PL will handle products with quality service and best practices. Food products require more procedures and audits than any other goods that are stored with a 3PL.
Generally, food clients will hold their own warehouse audits to make sure that the company they look to outsource storage and distribution with has procedures and best practices in place beforehand. Having an outside source, like SQF or ISO certifications is almost always a requirement before those audits even take place. A third party certification is a great tool that delivers non-biased information about how the warehouse is maintained and ran. Safe food handling should not stop when the goods, transportation procedures keep food safe all the way to it’s destination.
Some warehouse certifications that include food procedures are:
SQF – Safety Quality Food Certifications are one of the most comprehensive in the industry. A couple of weeks ago Murphy went through the audit process to become SQF certified and are pending results. We anticipate having full certification within the next couple of months!
ISO 9001:2008 – “Sets out the criteria for a quality management system and is the only standard in the family that can be certified to (although this is not a requirement). It can be used by any organization, large or small, regardless of its field of activity. In fact ISO 9001:2008 is implemented by over one million companies and organizations in over 170 countries.” – Via http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_9000
FDA/USDA – Each FDA certified facility has a separate and unique FDA #. Each facility is inspected bi-annually to ensure that procedures are documented and practiced correctly.
ASI Food Safety –This is a certification of our GMPs, Food Safety and Food Security, Sanitation, Pest Control, and Haccp procedures. ASI conducts an annual inspection by a third party to ensure that procedures are documented and practiced correctly.
GMP – Good Manufacturing Procedures are a list of practices that we use to determine a food-safe-environment. We inspect our facilities every month to ensure the best quality for all of the products stored and distributed using our third party logistics services.
HACCP – A food safety certification and inspection, HACCP providers need to take a class every three years to be certified for food safety. ASI then certifies that we are HACCP compliant.
Thank you for reading about how food certifications can help keep your products safe with a 3PL! Next week’s blog is a special treat, our team will be giving a live update about what they are learning at Pro Mat’s annual conference in Chicago, Illinois!