How Cavalier Candies Attained Its Level Two SQF Certification
By Sam Lewis
Cavalier Candies spent two years customizing plans to attain its SQF certification in hopes of bolstering food safety and gaining customers in the confectionary industry. From creating procedures unique to its candy making operations, to updating nearly every part of its facility, this is the story of the companywide effort put forth by the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based candy maker to receive its Level Two SQF Certification as told by the company’s Food Safety Manager, Rene Duchesne.
Modern day food safety programs were originally developed for NASA to ensure the safety and quality of the food being sent into space for astronauts. These programs have gradually found their way into food manufacturing facilities as an increasing emphasis has been placed on the importance of good manufacturing practices (GMP), training, cleaning, and all the other aspects of a recognized food safety program. Numerous standards have been developed, including HACCP, ISO, BRC, and SQF, but every program strives to ensure the highest quality and safety of products being produced.
Today’s food manufacturers, re-baggers, and distributors have to meet strict criteria to ensure their products are of the highest quality, consistency, and safety. In order to compete, Cavalier Candies has spent two years working towards achieving SQF certification. Cavalier Candies chose to pursue SQF certification as this program is widely accepted by existing and potential customers in the industry.
The company invested a substantial amount of time customizing a plan for the company’s unique specialty confectionery manufacturing operation. As most food safety managers can attest, the SQF manual is as dense as a large phone book and requires a huge amount of documentation be compiled by the company in order to comply with all of the rules and regulations. The program has to be worded correctly so that all aspects of the operation are properly covered, with no contradictions or misinterpretations in the written program. Once the food safety manual has been developed, the operations personnel must follow the procedures which the manual describes. The SQF manual requires you to examine the basic construction and layout of the manufacturing facility.
Since the company is located in an older facility in a historic area of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Cavalier Candies spent six months upgrading its 40,000 sq. ft. facility to meet or exceed the SQF standard. Included in these upgrades were renovated and improved storage areas, processing areas, floors, ceilings, drains, ventilation, and equipment storage areas. Additional, hands-free sanitizing stations were added and all of the cleaning and maintenance equipment was upgraded to the latest color-coded, food-grade standard. In addition, as part of the SQF system, the company performs frequent microbiological testing of raw material ingredients, work in process, and finished goods, as well as shelf life studies and cleaning validation through swabbing and visual inspections.
An SQF qualified food safety professional was brought in to take control of the program and manage it through to completion. Under his direction, rigorous documented controls were developed and put into practice, including a training program for staff, shipping and receiving logs, internal audit procedures, cleaning, confirmation, and validation programs, as well as a complete food traceability program. All failures, or deviations as they are referred to by most food safety programs, are documented with corrective actions used to rectify the issues. About 35 forms are verified (checked for accuracy) on a weekly basis. With all of the paperwork being generated, communication is an important aspect of the food safety program. Food safety and food defense committees were established and regular meetings are held to ensure that both management and staff are informed of any changes in the program.
One particularly challenging aspect of the SQF program was the traceability requirement under which the finished product and all of its ingredients and packaging must be able to be traced in the event of a product recall. Cavalier Candies spent 12 months and invested heavily in order to create a proprietary, in-house, paperless system. A combination of iPads and handheld Bluetooth scanners ensure that every product produced by Cavalier Candies can be traced back to each stage of the manufacturing process. From the minute the ingredients and packaging were received, to every employee who came into contact with the piece, the system allows the company to instantaneously track and verify each aspect of the manufacturing process.
The traceability system is also fully integrated with Cavalier’s inventory, invoicing, and shipping systems in order to create a paperless and seamless manufacturing process. Numerous ancillary benefits have been realized from this system, including real-time raw ingredient, work in process, and finished goods inventory tracking, as well as reduced scrap. The system has also eliminated manufacturing errors as work in process must be scanned at each manufacturing step and the system will not allow operators to proceed if they are packing or shipping an incorrect product. In the future, the system will integrate the cleaning, maintenance, and testing programs so that the entire food safety system will become virtually paperless. All information is automatically backed up and stored to servers so it can be immediately accessed in the event of a recall. With the average cost of a recall estimated to be $10 million, Cavalier Candies believes that quality control systems are well worth the investment.
Upon the completion of the certification audit, a score is given based on any and all findings which do not meet SQF code requirements. After two years of hard work, Cavalier Candies achieved an SQF score of Excellent (98 percent) based on the program requirements and food safety risk of the products produced in the facility. Recertification occurs annually without prior notice, so the program needs to be constantly improved and maintained so there are no issues with recertification. The long term benefits of certification far outweigh the cost and effort needed to implement the program.
The commitment and ongoing support of owners and upper management are paramount to maintaining food safety certifications. This certification will mean a good deal more business for the company and will help to ensure continued success and growth well into the future. Walter Fletcher, President and CEO of Cavalier Candies says of the company’s recent SQF certification, “We have been manufacturing sugar confections for over 50 years and believed we had a thorough understanding of each stage in our manufacturing process. The SQF certification process forced us to carefully examine and document every aspect of production. Much to our surprise, we found areas of waste and inefficiency which we had previously overlooked. The SQF Food Safety Plan has formalized processes and procedures in our operation and has provided us with additional tools to monitor, measure, and manage our food manufacturing business to an even higher level of consistency and quality.”
About Cavalier Candies
Cavalier Candies is Western Canada's largest sugar confectionery manufacturer and the largest manufacturer of Agar Fruit Slices in North America. The company uses only natural ingredients, colors, and flavors when possible in creating its fruit jelly slices. Cavalier Candies ships its products to customers throughout Canada and the U.S. Click here for more information about Cavalier Candies.