SQF vs BRC for specialty food manufacturers: which certification do retailers ask for?

What to take away

The two schemes, and why US retailers care

SQF (Safe Quality Food) is owned by the Food Marketing Institute and administered through SQFI. BRCGS, formerly the British Retail Consortium standard, is now owned by LGC Group. Both sit on the GFSI benchmark list, which is the list most large US grocery buyers actually reference when they write supplier requirements.

That benchmark status is the whole reason the question exists. A retailer that requires a GFSI certification is not usually telling you which one. It is telling you that a third-party audit under a recognized scheme has to exist before your product goes on the shelf.

Whole Foods, for example, has long asked suppliers in higher-risk categories for a GFSI-benchmarked audit. Costco's supplier expectations are published in its own food safety documents and tend to point suppliers toward SQF. Kroger's supplier requirements follow a similar pattern. Regional distributors vary by category and by warehouse.

The criteria that matter for a small manufacturer

Costs vary by facility size, product risk, number of employees and whether you hire a consultant. Treat the figures above as illustrative ranges, not quotes. The audit body sets its own fee, and travel is often billed separately.

Option by option: where each one fits

SQF certification

SQF is built around a food safety plan and a quality plan, with modules you select based on what you make. A specialty jam maker, a sauce producer and a snack co-packer will not carry identical modules.

The scheme leans on HACCP principles, which the FDA describes in its HACCP application guidelines. If your preventive controls work is already documented under the FDA's Preventive Controls rule, much of the SQF groundwork is administrative rather than new science.

SQF is the right call when your biggest account is a club store, a conventional grocery chain or a distributor that already speaks the language. It is also common among co-packers who serve those buyers. If you are weighing a co-packer relationship, the certification question comes up in how to pick a specialty food co-packer without losing your recipe.

BRCGS certification

BRCGS is clause-based and prescriptive. Auditors work down a numbered list, and the scoring is blunt. That structure suits manufacturers who want a clear checklist and who sell into the natural channel or export.

BRCGS carries strong recognition in the UK and EU, which matters if you ship across a border. Exporters often find that a single BRCGS certificate satisfies more foreign buyers than SQF does. US makers selling into Canada run into overlapping requirements, which is covered in cross-border packaged food sales between the US and Canada.

The audit itself

The audit is one day for most small facilities, sometimes two. The auditor walks the floor, checks records, interviews operators and scores non-conformances. Major non-conformances usually require a corrective action plan within a set window, often 28 days.

Where each one wins

SQF wins when a US buyer names it. That happens more often with club stores and large conventional chains, and with distributors who supply them. The scheme's modular design also helps a manufacturer with several product lines under one roof.

BRCGS wins when your buyers are natural retailers, exporters or European-owned brands. It also wins when you want a fixed clause list rather than a plan you design yourself, because the audit expectations are easier to predict.

Neither certificate substitutes for a working prerequisite program. An auditor will find a dirty drain before they find a missing signature.

What neither scheme solves

Both schemes audit a snapshot. They do not guarantee that the plant runs the same way on a Tuesday in November as it did on audit day. They also do not replace your FDA obligations, including facility registration and preventive controls.

A GFSI audit is a commercial credential, not a regulatory one. FDA registration is separate and mandatory, and the steps are set out in a guide to FDA facility registration for US packaged food batchers.

Neither scheme is cheap for a small maker, and neither shortens the learning curve on allergen control or sanitation. If your quality program is thin, fix that first. Owners who track their own process discipline before an audit tend to have an easier time, as described in specialty food owners quality assurance for owners.

Common questions