MANUFACTURING QUALITY STANDARDS
Quality Standards in the Specialty Food Space
Food makers confront a dizzying array of specialty categories for their products from USDA, FDA, and SQF to organic, gluten-free, keto, paleo, plant-based, kosher, halal, and many others.
To help navigate this complexity, a combination of industry and governmental organizations have created certification programs to assure the public that the specialty food items they buy comport with the claims on their labeling.
Locating production at an Amped Kitchens facility has proven to be an important element in our tenants’ ability to meet these specialty food requirements. Every tenant has their own industry-leading private production kitchen (from 150 sq. ft. to almost 5,000 sq. ft.) in a facility designed and managed to support tenants in meeting the quality standards and certification requirements of their specialty food products. When combined with our industry-leading amenities and supported by our top-tier logistics teams, Amped Kitchens is very often a food maker’s best choice for managing their specialty production.
THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION
IF YOUR COMPANY IS LOOKING TO GAIN A FOOTHOLD IN THE WORLD OF SPECIALTY FOODS, YOU WILL NEED TO LOCATE YOUR PRODUCTION IN A FACILITY THAT CAN ACCOMMODATE THE RIGORS OF THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION.
Certifying authorities, both public and private, disseminate ingredient requirements and production and facility standards that must be adhered to in order to qualify your products as allergen-free, kosher, gluten-free, organic, halal, USDA compliant, and many others. Amped Kitchens boasts an extensive list of tenants who have built their specialty food production in our gold standard production spaces.
Specialty Food Production
Certification for specialty food market comes in an ever-expanding range of categories including products requiring USDA and FDA oversight as well as those certified as:
USDA certified
The United States Department of Agriculture regulates wholesale food products that include meat and poultry ingredients. The USDA food safety regulations apply to the preparation, handling, and storage of such products. They include a requirement that the facility has an on-site office for a USDA inspector to be regularly present during production hours to assure compliance with their requirements.
To facilitate the process of obtaining a grant of inspection from the USDA, every Amped Kitchens includes a USDA office. Over the years, a number of Amped Kitchens tenants have leveraged the USDA office and other core Amped Kitchens amenities to operate under a USDA grant of inspection. While the USDA regulations are detailed and at times burdensome, our USDA grant tenants report that Amped Kitchens puts USDA inspection within reach for many who would otherwise find it far more difficult (or impossible) to achieve.
Gluten-free
Interest in gluten-free diets has grown well beyond the 6% of the U.S. population with some form of true gluten sensitivity.
Offering certified gluten-free products requires that you monitor your ingredients and process closely to make sure they comply with the rules and regulations of the relevant certifying organizations (including NSF, GFCO, and others). These regulations are focused on avoiding cross-contamination with non-compliant ingredients or products.
Amped Kitchens has been the first choice for many gluten-free food makers as we offer every tenant their own exclusive production space segregated from the production of other food makers. All Amped Kitchens facilities include state-of-the-art HVAC systems that supply direct fresh air feeds to every production space. Amped Kitchens also offers our tenants on-site storage to keep their ingredients and finished products adequately segregated.
Kosher
Interest in Kosher food has recently increased well beyond the realms of traditionally observant Jewish communities to many consumers who find the idea their food is prepared with a heightened awareness of ingredients and processes appealing.
For food to be considered kosher, the production process must be carried out in accordance with Jewish law as certified by one of a variety of rabbinical organizations.
Differing levels of kosher compliance are available depending on the certifying organization and the rules of kashrut (as the kosher food rules are known) involved.
Amped Kitchens offers exclusive space to prevent cross-contamination as well as the ability to segregate ingredients and finished goods to help our tenants achieve their kosher food certification.
SQF/HAACP
SQF (safe quality foods) certification assures food retailers (and many restaurants) that your food products meet some of the highest global food safety standards. Adopting SQF certification can expand your customer base from the smallest mom and pop to the largest multi-national chains.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HAACP) is a systematic approach to higher levels of food safety deployed by many food companies as required by their retail buyers, USDA regulations, state bottling and canning rules, or SQF certification. The HAACP methodology touches on all points in the production process, from the procurement of raw materials to the packaging of finished products.
Amped Kitchens provides our tenants with an SQF and HACCP-ready production environment helping you establish compliant production processes in your production space. While SQF certification can be a grueling process, Amped Kitchens tenants have found that the process is made vastly more feasible by locating in one of our production spaces.
