Delivering On Your Safety Promise Through SF/SF

Written by: Paul Davis, Ph.D.   |   August 5, 2021

Feed safety, Policy priority series, Safe Feed Safe Food

This blog is part of our policy priority series.

The American Feed Industry Association’s Safe Feed/Safe Food (SF/SF) program began in 2004 with Food Sector Category 36 (FSC36), a voluntary, independently certified program designed for the total feed industry. Our SF/SF certification program maintains comprehensive standards of excellence that go beyond existing regulations to maximize feed and food safety. Excelling at every aspect of feed production remains "Our Responsibility, Our Promise" to regulators, customers and American consumers.

Since its beginnings more than a decade and a half ago, FSC36 has enjoyed sustained growth and seemingly increasing popularity. 

Society, as a whole, is increasingly aware of and interested in food safety and where food comes from.  Animal agriculture is certainly no stranger to this reality and concerns about food defense and intentional adulteration have become more and more prevalent. 

At its core, SF/SF provides a code which a feed facility can be audited against by an approved third-party, often referred to as a certifying body or auditor. The FSC36 code encompasses the entirety of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) for animal food, but it doesn’t stop there. The code also contains criteria for food defense, biosecurity and approving suppliers. The additional focus areas are increasingly beneficial in safeguarding the health and safety of humans and animals. 

As such, participants have identified several ways that our SF/SF program has brought value to them over time. Among these are:

• aiding in regulatory compliance,
• easing business-to-business transactions and
• differentiation in the marketplace.

These benefits have helped our programs grow at an impressive pace since inception. Through the years, with the help of AFIA's Quality and Animal Food Safety Committee, certification bodies and the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI), the AFIA staff have worked to streamline and improve the SF/SF processes and administration.

Unsurprising, our SF/SF website is the hub for information and updates. Recently, with input from multiple groups, we updated the SF/SF website to make it more user friendly and refresh the look and content.

The new, easy-to-use website includes background information on each of the certifications, information on how to join and renew, testimonials from program participants, information on how to check registration status and more!

For more information about the SF/SF program, visit the website at safefeedsafefood.org.