SQF certification costs two kinds of money. The fees are small and published: SQFI's site registration is $650 a year for a food manufacturing site on one code, and capped at $800 for two or more. The rest is set by other people: the audit, which the certification body you pick quotes directly; the training for the person who runs your SQF system, the SQF practitioner; an optional pre-assessment or consultant; whatever the gap audit finds needs fixing; and the staff time to write the system and keep 90 days of records before the audit, which SQFI recommends. The certificate is good for one year, so the registration and an audit come back every year. For a small maker, the first year can cost more than twice what each year after does. In the example below, a Columbus popcorn maker prices its first year for a grocery chain that asked for a certificate.
The short version
- SQFI's registration: $650 a year for a food manufacturing site, $800 for two or more codes; $250 for Fundamentals.
- The audit is quoted by the certification body you choose; get two or three quotes.
- Budget the practitioner's training, any pre-assessment or consultant, fixes, and staff time.
- SQFI recommends 90 days of records before the audit.
- Certification lasts one year: registration and an audit every year.
- The first year costs the most; after that it's the registration, the audit and the upkeep.
- TaroStack keeps the production records an SQF system runs on: receiving, batches, lots and recalls. More below.
What it costs, and who sets it
| Cost | Who sets it | Each year? |
|---|---|---|
| Site registration | SQFI, published | Yes |
| Certification audit and travel | Your certification body's quote | Yes |
| Practitioner's HACCP training | The training provider | Once |
| Certified SQF Practitioner credential | SQFI, published: $250, then $175 yearly | Optional |
| Pre-assessment | A consultant or certification body | Optional |
| Consultant | The consultant | Optional |
| Facility fixes | Contractors | As found |
| Staff time | You | Yes |
What a food safety audit looks at is in food safety audit checklist, and the HACCP records behind it in HACCP record keeping form example.
The fees SQFI publishes
| Code or program | One code | Two or more codes |
|---|---|---|
| SQF Fundamentals Code | $250 | |
| Food Manufacturing | $650 | $800, capped |
| Storage and Distribution | $650 | $800, capped |
| Manufacture of Food Packaging | $650 | $800, capped |
| SQF Food Safety Code for Retail | $250 | |
| SQF Fundamentals Verification Assessment | $100 |
These are SQFI's site registration prices in effect as of April 1, 2024, as its site showed when read for this article. The audit itself isn't on the list: SQFI sends you to the certification bodies it licenses for a quote. Check the current page before budgeting.
An example: a popcorn maker's first year
Copper Kettle Popcorn, the made-up popcorn maker in Columbus, Ohio, I use in these examples, was asked by a regional grocery chain for SQF certification before it would stock the kettle corn. Its made-up quotes:
| Cost | First year | Each year after |
|---|---|---|
| SQFI registration, Food Manufacturing | $650 | $650 |
| Certification audit | $4,200 | $4,200 |
| Auditor travel | $800 | $800 |
| HACCP training for the practitioner | $650 | |
| Certified SQF Practitioner credential | $250 | $175 |
| Pre-assessment | $1,800 | |
| Facility fixes: a hand sink, door sweeps, a locked chemical cabinet | $3,500 | |
| Staff time: 160 hours, then 40, at $25 | $4,000 | $1,000 |
| Total | $15,850 | $6,825 |
Copper Kettle wrote its own system instead of hiring a consultant, and kept 90 days of records before booking the audit. With the chain's orders, it expects 4,800 cases a year, so certification costs $3.30 a case in the first year and $1.42 a case after that. That went into the price it quoted the chain. Whether the chain's margin leaves room is in distributor margin.
Get the calculator
Download the SQF certification cost calculator. Two sheets: the cost, with each item for the first year and each year after, who sets it, staff time at your wage, the totals and the cost a case at your sales; and SQFI's published registration fees by code. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The calculator prices the certificate. The audit itself checks records: what came in from which supplier, which lots went into which batch, which batches went to which customer, and whether a mock recall finds them all. Ninety days of those on clipboards is a lot of paper to hand an auditor.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the production records an SQF system runs on. It doesn't write your SQF system or make anybody certified.
Receiving with lots. Each delivery is received from its supplier with its lot and date.
Batch records. Each batch takes ingredients off stock by their lots, with printable batch-record forms carrying your own checklist fields and a sign-off.
Recalls. One report shows every customer who got a lot, which is what a mock recall asks for.
| The job | Clipboards | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which supplier lot went into a batch | Matched by hand | Batches by lot |
| Who checked a batch | Initials on paper | A sign-off on the batch record |
| A mock recall | An afternoon with invoices | One recall report |
Lots, batches and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.