The SQF (Safe Quality Food) Code Edition 9, published in 2023, includes specific requirements for equipment and facility maintenance that CMMS must support.
Module 11 (Good Manufacturing Practices for Processing of Food Products) Section 11.7 requires: a documented preventive maintenance schedule for all food processing equipment, records of maintenance activities completed, calibration programs for measuring and monitoring equipment, and verification that maintenance activities have not adversely affected food safety.
SQF Level 3 (Comprehensive Food Safety and Quality Management) adds requirements for a formal maintenance management system with management review of maintenance performance against food safety objectives.
SQF Code Edition 9 introduced stronger language around maintenance as a food safety management tool, maintenance deficiencies that could result in contamination (lubricant leaks, metal-on-metal contact from worn parts, insulation failure) must be assessed for food safety impact, not just equipment reliability impact.
CMMS must support food safety risk assessment at work order creation: when scheduling maintenance on food contact or food-adjacent equipment, the system should prompt for food safety risk considerations and capture the assessment result.
SQF Edition 9 Section 11.7.4 requires a calibration program covering all measuring, monitoring, and testing equipment used to verify food safety critical limits and food quality standards. The program must specify calibration frequency, calibration method or reference standard, and tolerance limits for each device.
CMMS calibration management for SQF compliance must maintain: a complete measuring device register with device ID, description, location, and use purpose; calibration schedule and frequency per device; calibration procedure or reference to SOP; calibration records with measurement values, pass/fail determination, and any adjustment made; and records of out-of-specification findings with product impact assessment.
SQF auditors at Practitioner and provisional Food Safety Management certification levels sample 10-15 calibration records during on-site audits.
The most common SQF calibration finding: measuring devices in use without current calibration status, a checkweigher calibrated 14 months ago when the schedule requires annual calibration, or a temperature probe with a physical calibration sticker from the correct date but no corresponding CMMS record.
CMMS must be the system of record for calibration status, not a secondary record system.
SQF Level 3 requires management review of the food safety management system including maintenance performance data. CMMS must generate the maintenance performance reports that feed this review: PM compliance rate by equipment category, reactive maintenance ratio, equipment downtime by asset group, calibration compliance rate, and maintenance findings with food safety implications.
These reports should be automatically generated at defined frequencies, monthly for operational review, quarterly for management review, rather than manually compiled.
SQF auditors look for evidence that maintenance performance data is reviewed at management level and that findings drive program improvements. A CMMS report showing persistent low PM compliance on a specific production line, combined with management review minutes noting the finding and corrective action, is exactly the continuous improvement evidence SQF auditors want to see.
The corrective action loop. CMMS identifies problem, management reviews and assigns corrective action, CMMS tracks completion, demonstrates the systematic food safety management approach that distinguishes SQF Level 3 certification holders from organizations meeting baseline requirements only.
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