CanadaGAP, PrimusGFS and SQF Certification for Fresh Produce Growers and Packers

None is required by law. Buyers decide which programs they accept, and many ask produce suppliers for GFSI-recognized certification. Listed A to Z, GFSI recognizes CanadaGAP, Freshcare, GLOBALG.A.P., PrimusGFS and SQF for growing produce, and BRCGS Food Safety, CanadaGAP, Freshcare, FSSC 22000, GLOBALG.A.P., IFS Food, PrimusGFS and SQF for packing, cooling and storing whole produce. Through Kiwa, listed A to Z: BRCGS Food Safety, CanadaGAP (delivered by TSLC), FSSC 22000, IFS Food, PrimusGFS and SQF (Kiwa ASI); BRCGS, FSSC 22000, IFS and PrimusGFS certificates come from other Kiwa group certification bodies, and BRCGS, FSSC 22000 and IFS cover packing and storage, not growing. We check auditor coverage before we quote. Separately, covered farms must meet the FDA Produce Safety Rule whether or not they're certified.

How they're built and scored. CanadaGAP gives farms and packinghouses ready-made manuals and generic HACCP models, certifies only listed whole fruit and vegetable commodities, and requires a 100% score after corrective actions for its GFSI-recognized options. PrimusGFS audits each operation, such as a farm, harvest crew or packinghouse, against its own modules, and needs at least 90% overall and 85% in every module. SQF applies the Primary Plant Production code, with a farming module and a packhouse module and a site-built food safety plan, and certifies a site that scores 70 or more out of 100. All three are GFSI-recognized for growing and for packing whole produce.

Yes. Operations outside Canada, including U.S. farms, can enroll and pay CanadaGAP's annual program fee in U.S. dollars, such as USD 300 for Option C. TSLC, which delivers CanadaGAP for Kiwa ASI, is licensed by CanadaGAP to certify in all Canadian provinces and in the United States; ask us about auditor availability for your location. CanadaGAP audits are conducted in English or French, and its manuals, forms and checklist are also published in Spanish.

Options B, C and D are. In July 2026, GFSI recognized CanadaGAP Version 11.0 against its 2024 benchmarking requirements for Options B (group certification), C (annual audit) and D (repacking and wholesaling), covering farming of plants and pre-process handling of plant products. Options A1, A2, E and F, and brokerage, aren't GFSI-recognized, so check what your buyers accept before you choose an option.

Not for CanadaGAP; for PrimusGFS and SQF, possibly. Greenhouse and other indoor growing fall under PrimusGFS Module 3 Indoor Agriculture and SQF's FSC 2: Indoor Growing and Harvesting of Fresh Produce and Sprouted Seed Crops (Module 18), and we check auditor availability before we quote. For CanadaGAP, greenhouse product has its own manual, and ANAB's listing of Kiwa ASI's CanadaGAP accreditation doesn't include the Greenhouse Product scope, so we don't offer CanadaGAP greenhouse certification.

Kiwa BCS Öko-Garantie S. de R.L. de C.V., a Kiwa group certification body based in Zapopan, Mexico. Azzule Systems, which owns PrimusGFS, lists it as an approved certification body for all farm and facility operation types, and it's accredited to ISO/IEC 17065 for PrimusGFS by ema, Mexico's accreditation entity. Kiwa ASI's own ANAB accreditation covers CanadaGAP and SQF, not PrimusGFS. PrimusGFS reports and certificates are issued through the PrimusGFS database on Azzule's platform, in English or Spanish.

No. Kiwa ASI isn't a GLOBALG.A.P. certification body, and the Kiwa group companies approved for GLOBALG.A.P. fruit and vegetables certification can't certify farms in the U.S. or Canada; see our GLOBALG.A.P. guide for options. USDA Harmonized GAP audits are done by trained, licensed USDA and federal-state auditors, not private certification bodies, and Harmonized GAP isn't a GFSI-recognized program.

No. PrimusGFS audits use Version 3.2, the version GFSI recognizes. Azzule published the Version 4.0 documents in August 2025 for information only, and Version 4.0 is still going through GFSI benchmarking, with no mandatory date announced. When it applies, question numbers will change; it adds food safety culture, crisis management and allergen questions, stronger traceability and new questions for controlled-environment growing.

Only in some cases. Every PrimusGFS facility operation, including packinghouses and coolers, needs Module 5 Facility and Module 6 HACCP. Module 7 Preventive Controls is optional, except that the Version 3.2 General Regulations require it for facilities that export to the United States. Separately, FDA says it doesn't intend to enforce its preventive controls requirements for off-farm packinghouses that would be farms except for their ownership, though good manufacturing practices still apply.

FSC 3: Growing and Production of Fresh Produce and Nuts covers growing, harvesting, field packing and on-site storage of fresh whole fruits and vegetables (Module 7: Good Agricultural Practices for Outdoor Farming of Plant Products). FSC 4: Fresh Produce, Grain, and Nut Packhouse Operations covers cleaning, packing, sorting, grading and on-site storage in a packhouse (Module 10). Greenhouse and other indoor growing is FSC 2 (Module 18), and all three use the SQF Food Safety Code: Primary Plant Production, with a $250 annual SQFI registration fee (rates in effect since April 1, 2024). Fresh-cut processing falls under FSC 14 in the Food Manufacturing code.

Under PrimusGFS, yes; under CanadaGAP and SQF, crews are covered through the farm. CanadaGAP audits harvesting as part of the production operation (18.2 Harvesting). PrimusGFS has Module 4 Harvest Crew, and a crew can be audited on its own or together with a farm, indoor agriculture or facility operation. SQF has no separate harvest crew category: a farm's own crews are covered by its Module 7 harvesting practices (7.5.3), and contracted services must comply with the Primary Plant Production code (2.3.2.4), which can apply to contract harvesting.

Yes under CanadaGAP Option B group certification and SQF multi-site; no under PrimusGFS. CanadaGAP's Option B is GFSI-recognized group certification: the group runs a central management system and internally audits every member each year, and the certification body audits the system and a sample of members. PrimusGFS has no group option; one application can include several operations, but each is scored and certified separately. SQF's Appendix 4 multi-site program lets a central site, such as a packhouse, and the grower sub-sites that feed it be certified together, with one certification body auditing the central site and a sample of sub-sites, all in one country; SQFI lists a $1,500 fee for the central site plus $50 per sub-site, with at least 10 sub-sites (rates in effect since April 1, 2024), and multi-site programs are exempt from unannounced audits.

It depends on the program. CanadaGAP Options B, C and D need 100%, reached through corrective actions or an approved corrective action plan, with no automatic failures (95% for E and F, 85% for A1 and A2). PrimusGFS needs at least 90% overall and at least 85% in every module, with every corrective action closed; a preliminary score of 85–89% can reach certification through corrective actions, but below 85% a new audit is needed. SQF needs 70 or more out of 100 under Edition 9, with no critical non-conformance; a score of 70–85 adds a six-month surveillance audit.

Every year under all three programs, and each runs unannounced audits. CanadaGAP certificates last 12 months, and each year a certification body audits at least 10% of its Option C, D, E and F clients, and 25% of the Option B group members it samples, unannounced; selected Option B, C and D clients are told early in the year, but not the date. PrimusGFS certificates last up to 12 months, and 10% of farm, harvest crew, indoor agriculture, cooling and packinghouse operations are audited unannounced each year. SQF recertifies every 12 months, with at least one unannounced recertification audit every three years for a single site.

While the work in scope is happening. CanadaGAP only certifies activities the auditor sees in progress, such as harvesting, packing or storage, so an operation with several crops may need audits at different times. For PrimusGFS, plan each operation's audit while it's running: a harvest crew while it's harvesting, a packinghouse while it's packing. Under SQF, if your major harvest activity runs no more than five consecutive months, the initial audit takes place at the peak of harvesting or packing (Part A, 8.3).

Plan on at least a season. CanadaGAP requires at least three months of records before your first audit, SQFI recommends at least 90 days of records, and every program audits while the work in scope is happening. After the audit, CanadaGAP corrective actions are due within 45 days of receiving the report, or by the end of your season if sooner (Option B groups: 3 months after an initial audit, 28 days after later audits), PrimusGFS corrective actions within 30 days, and SQF non-conformances within 30 days; certification bodies then make the certification decision, within 45 days of the audit under PrimusGFS.

It depends on the program. Under CanadaGAP, automatic failures, such as manure applied less than 120 days before harvest or missing water potability tests where water contacts product, must be corrected within the corrective action deadline before a certificate is issued; a corrective action plan can't clear them. Under PrimusGFS, a down-score on an automatic-failure question (for some questions, only a zero-point score) sets that module's score to 0%, and because every module needs 85%, the operation can't be certified. SQF's equivalent is a critical non-conformance, which fails an initial audit and suspends an existing certificate.

Your certification body's audit fee, which depends on audit time, travel and how many operations and commodities you have, plus each program's published fees. CanadaGAP's annual program fee is USD 300 (CAD 350) for Option C, USD 865 (CAD 1,000) for Option D, and USD 3,400 (CAD 4,000) for an Option B group's first 25 members plus USD 690 (CAD 800) per 25 more, plus $50 a year per Option C operation or Option B member. PrimusGFS charges the certification body database fees, such as $40 per operation audited and $27–$30 per certificate, which are usually passed on. SQFI registration for a Primary Plant Production site is $250 a year (rates in effect since April 1, 2024). Many straightforward farm audits take about half a day.

Yes, under each program's transfer rules, once we've confirmed auditor availability for your scope. For CanadaGAP, send CanadaGAP a Change of Status form and give the new certification body your previous audit reports, corrective action reports and certificates; Options A1 and A2 restart at Year 1 if they switch before four consecutive years, and Option B groups go back to Year 1 requirements. For PrimusGFS, request the switch in the PrimusGFS system, as long as no audit is in progress with your current certification body. For SQF, under Edition 9 you can change after one certification cycle, once all non-conformances are closed, any surveillance audit that's due is done, and the certificate isn't suspended or under threat of suspension or withdrawal; your certification number, recertification date and unannounced audit schedule carry over.

No. FDA says third-party audits aren't required under the Produce Safety Rule, and an audit isn't an FDA or state regulatory inspection. The programs overlap with the rule: every PrimusGFS audit report includes an FSMA sub-report on the Produce Safety Rule, and all three programs cover agricultural water, soil amendments, animals, worker hygiene and sanitation. Covered farms must still meet the rule's requirements and records, and FDA or state inspectors enforce it.

FDA's May 2024 final rule replaced the Produce Safety Rule's pre-harvest water testing requirements with an annual written agricultural water assessment for covered farms that apply water directly to covered produce during growing (21 CFR 112.43). Compliance dates were April 7, 2025 for large farms and April 6, 2026 for small farms, and are April 5, 2027 for very small farms. Water used during and after harvest must have no detectable generic E. coli in 100 mL (112.44).

Generally, yes. A farm can pack and hold its own and other farms' raw produce and stay exempt from registration. An off-farm packinghouse counts as a farm only if the growers of most of its produce own a majority interest in it; otherwise it's a food facility that registers with FDA. Good manufacturing practices apply to off-farm packing (or the Produce Safety Rule's packing requirements instead), and FDA's 2018 policy says it doesn't intend to enforce preventive controls for packinghouses that would be farms except for their ownership.

If you grow or pack fresh cucumbers, herbs, leafy greens, melons, peppers, sprouts, tomatoes or tropical tree fruits, or make fresh-cut fruits or vegetables, yes: they're on the list for FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) section 204 traceability rule. Records cover harvesting, cooling and initial packing, and farms keep a map of the fields where listed foods are grown. Exemptions include farms averaging $25,000 or less in produce sales (2020 baseline, adjusted for inflation) and produce rarely consumed raw. Congress directed FDA not to enforce the rule before July 20, 2028. CanadaGAP's manual includes FSMA 204 guidance (Appendix Z).

Your Canadian importer does: importers of fresh produce need a licence and must show that imported produce had the same level of hazard analysis and preventive controls as food prepared in Canada, which they can do by relying on a supplier's internationally recognized third-party audit, among other options. In Canada, businesses that grade, package or label produce for export or trade between provinces need a licence; growers whose only activity is selling between provinces don't, but must meet preventive control and traceability rules, with a written preventive control plan if their gross annual food sales exceed $100,000. CanadaGAP certification doesn't replace a licence where one is needed.

No. California's Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement (LGMA) is a state marketing agreement overseen by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and Arizona has a nearly identical sister program. Joining is voluntary, but members accept mandatory government audits; in California the goal is at least three a year, one of them unannounced. LGMA audits are done by government auditors, not by certification bodies such as Kiwa ASI, and they're separate from CanadaGAP, PrimusGFS and SQF certification. Buyers may ask leafy greens growers for both.

Not for CanadaGAP certification: its Program Management Manual (Version 11.0) counts a certification body's pre-audit of an operation seeking or holding CanadaGAP certification as consultancy. Under SQF, a pre-assessment is optional and is meant to find gaps before you engage your selected certification body for the certification audit; your own staff, a registered SQF consultant or a registered SQF food safety auditor can do it (Part A, Step 6). For any program, you can self-assess with the free standards and checklists on this page and run your own internal audit before the certification audit.

Each program has a rule for it. CanadaGAP: in exceptional cases a certification body can extend a certificate by up to six months, if it grants the extension before the certificate expires and the next audit falls within it. PrimusGFS: a certification body can extend a certificate by up to three months for documented, justified reasons. SQF: if your recertification audit's 60-day window can't be met because your season changed significantly, you can agree with your certification body to temporarily reset the audit date to the peak of your season (Part A, 11.3).

For CanadaGAP and SQF, yes. ASI Food Safety, LLC (Kiwa ASI) is accredited by ANAB (ID 1222) to ISO/IEC 17065 for the CanadaGAP Program, Version 11.0, delivered by TSLC, for production, packing and storage of combined vegetables, leafy vegetables and cruciferae (except microgreens), potatoes, small fruit, and tree and vine fruit, plus repacking, wholesaling and brokerage; and for specific SQF Edition 9 codes, including Primary Plant Production. PrimusGFS certificates come from Kiwa BCS Öko-Garantie S. de R.L. de C.V., which is accredited by ema. Accreditation alone doesn't confirm we can audit your operation, so we check auditor availability before we quote.

No. Kiwa ASI audits and certifies; it doesn't provide laboratory testing. The programs expect testing from your labs, such as potability tests of well water used for washing under CanadaGAP, generic E. coli tests of water sources under PrimusGFS, and testing by laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 under SQF. The auditor reviews your results as part of the audit.