A major milestone for Lorpon and an important step forward for food brands managing tighter timelines, growing SKU counts, and increasingly complex packaging requirements.
Lorpon Labels is proud to announce that we are now an SQF Certified Facility, reinforcing our commitment to documented procedures, organized processes, and production standards designed to meet today’s food packaging demands.
If you work in food manufacturing, you already know packaging has become much more layered over the last few years. One product line can quickly turn into multiple SKUs once seasonal flavours, retailer requests, bilingual packaging, promotional runs, and product updates all start stacking together. Add revised nutrition panels, shifting retailer timelines, and multiple approval layers into the mix, and even small packaging updates can suddenly create a surprising amount of pressure behind the scenes.
A nutrition panel changes. A retailer requests a revision. Marketing approves one version while production is still referencing another. Suddenly, a simple packaging update turns into revised files, approval chains, extra emails, and unnecessary delays that nobody planned for.
That is exactly why the processes behind packaging matter just as much as the label itself.
What is SQF Certification?
For many food manufacturers, SQF certification is already familiar territory. SQF, which stands for Safe Quality Food, is a globally recognized food safety and quality certification program that falls under the broader GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) framework. GFSI helps recognize trusted food safety programs across the supply chain, and SQF is one of the standards widely recognized throughout the food industry.
The program is built around HACCP-based principles focused on risk management, traceability, documented procedures, accountability, and consistency throughout production.
While food safety certifications are often associated with food manufacturing facilities, packaging suppliers are also part of the same supply chain. Labels move through production environments, approval procedures, documentation systems, and compliance requirements alongside the products they support, making supplier accountability a much bigger focus across the industry.
Why SQF matters for food brands
For food brands, that usually becomes very noticeable during supplier approval and onboarding. Many manufacturers already operate in GFSI-aligned environments and regularly review supplier documentation, approval procedures, audit requirements, and quality processes before approving a new vendor.
Those reviews can take significant time, especially when teams are already balancing production schedules, retailer deadlines, packaging updates, and new product launches all at once.
When a packaging supplier operates within a recognized certification framework like SQF, much of the groundwork has already been independently reviewed and validated through third-party audits. Instead of spending valuable time reviewing supplier procedures and documentation internally, food brands can move forward with added confidence, knowing that key controls, documented processes, and accountability procedures are already in place through a recognized certification framework.
That can help reduce additional supplier verification requirements, simplify onboarding, and create stronger alignment between customer and supplier expectations. It also creates smoother conversations between procurement teams, quality assurance departments, and packaging suppliers because everyone is already working within a more familiar framework from the beginning.
What SQF actually covers
This certification is not about claiming perfect colour matching, flawless print quality, or creative execution. SQF focuses on something completely different. It is about ensuring documented procedures are in place to properly manage traceability, accountability, corrective actions, food safety, and production processes at every stage of the workflow.
- That includes areas such as:
- documented SOP procedures
- material controls
- traceability systems
- supplier monitoring
- corrective action procedures
- quarantine procedures
- quality sign-offs
- documented accountability throughout production
For example, if an issue is identified during production, there needs to be a documented process outlining how material is isolated, reviewed, investigated, approved, and resolved. Those procedures may not be the flashy side of packaging, but they become extremely important once production schedules tighten, packaging updates pile up, and multiple departments are trying to move quickly at the same time.
Why operational structure matters more than ever
Packaging workflows are moving faster than most systems were originally built to handle. Marketing may approve one artwork version while production is still referencing another. A retailer update can trigger revisions across multiple SKUs at once. An outdated proof can accidentally stay in circulation longer than it should.
Without strong behind-the-scenes procedures, those situations can quickly slow production and create unnecessary frustration across teams.
That is why Lorpon has continued investing in organized workflows, responsive communication, collaborative approvals, strong quality procedures, and systems designed to help customers move through production with greater visibility and less friction.
Built for where food packaging is heading
As supplier expectations continue evolving across the food industry, the systems behind packaging matter more than ever. Lorpon’s SQF certification reinforces the company’s commitment to supporting food brands with packaging solutions built not only for shelf impact, but for the real production environments modern food brands manage every day.
Built to Own the Shelf.