Fairhaven Mill Benefits from Consulting and Training to Become SQF Certified

Company Profile

Fairhaven Mill is an organic flour mill that produces a variety of organic products, including 100% whole-grain bread flour, 00 pizza flour, yellow cornmeal, rye flour, oat flour, barley flour, and more. Founded in Bellingham as a cooperative in 1974, a couple bought the mill and moved it to Burlington in Skagit Valley in 2010. In 2019, a group of farmers and visionaries purchased the mill to continue to grow it and support their farmers and local economy, according to their website. The mill sources certified organic grains from farms around the country and grosses more than $500,000 in sales annually. The mill currently employs four people.

"I value the time we spent and the quality of work we walked away with," said Kristen Keltz, CEO of Spinach Ventures, which oversees Fairhaven Mill.

Situation

Impact Washington began working with the mill when Fairhaven and its customers desired the products to be third-party certified by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and to obtain Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification.

Chief Food Scientist Craig Doan from Impact Washington conducted a Food & Beverage Business Evaluation, and the project received a two-year Jobs Skills Program grant. Fairhaven believed the certification may increase consumer confidence in their products and increase their margins through efficiency savings.

The SQF training program is an intensive and credible food safety and quality program that is respected by most retailers, brand owners, and food service providers around the globe. Training was needed to adopt the SQF culture in all areas of the business to prepare Fairhaven for certification.

Solution

SQF-preparedness training to get Fairhaven ready for certification was led by Kellerman Consulting’s Laura Swanson, a registered SQF consultant connected with the mill via Impact Washington.

The SQF training program guided Fairhaven Mill through the process of setting up a comprehensive food safety management system. Passing the SQF audit results in a certificate and earns the facility the right to call itself an SQF Certified Site as this food safety and quality certification also helps food producers assure their buyers that their food products meet the highest possible global food safety standards.

They set up SQF prerequisite programs, which include Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Master Sanitation Program, Environmental Monitoring, and a Supply Chain Program.

SQF certification preparation, maintaining SQF certification, site SQF requirements, and SQF food manufacturing code also were covered in-depth.

Everything from allergen management training to audit reporting was covered in the thorough training toward certification. This farm-to-fork food safety and quality certification is considered by many in the food industry as the gold standard.

Results