Your Food Safety Plan is a living document — not a PDF filed in a binder. Affinity QMS gives food and beverage manufacturers a connected quality system that keeps your HARPC plan current, your supplier approval program documented, and your SQF, BRC, or FSSC 22000 audit readiness continuous. The SafetyChain alternative built for manufacturers who do more than one thing.
FSMA compliance software · SQF certification software · Food QMS · SafetyChain alternative · BRC compliance software · From $499/mo
21 CFR Part 117 — the FDA's FSMA rule for Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food — requires a documented Food Safety Plan, a functioning preventive controls program, and a supplier verification system. Affinity QMS structures every one of these requirements into connected, documented workflows.
Hazard Analysis & Risk-Based Preventive Controls (HARPC)
Your Food Safety Plan must document the hazard analysis, preventive controls, monitoring procedures, corrective actions, verification activities, and recall plan — and it must be reanalyzed at least every three years or whenever a significant change occurs. Affinity QMS maintains your Food Safety Plan as a living document — linked to your process controls, supplier records, and corrective actions so it is always current.
Supplier Verification for Raw Materials & Other Ingredients
FSMA requires a supply-chain program for any raw material or ingredient where the hazard requiring a preventive control is controlled by a supplier. Your supplier program must include supplier verification activities — onsite audits, lot-by-lot testing, or review of supplier food safety records. Affinity QMS maintains your supplier verification program with automatic documentation of each verification activity.
GFSI-Recognized Scheme Certification
SQF, BRC/BRCGS, and FSSC 22000 are GFSI-recognized food safety certification schemes that major retailers require. Each scheme requires documented corrective actions, internal audits, supplier approval programs, and training records — all of which are managed in Affinity QMS. The same platform that satisfies FSMA also prepares you for SQF Level 2 or BRC Grade A certification.
Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP)
21 CFR Part 117 Subpart B establishes cGMP requirements for food manufacturing — covering personnel practices, plant and grounds, sanitary operations, equipment and utensils, production and process controls. Affinity QMS documents your cGMP compliance program through SOPs, training records, sanitation verification, and environmental monitoring documentation.
From HARPC plan documentation to SQF audit management to supplier COA tracking across 50+ suppliers — Affinity QMS handles the full quality system infrastructure your food manufacturing operation needs.
Supplier Management — Built for 50+ Ingredient Suppliers
Food manufacturers often manage incoming material specs, certificates of analysis, and supplier audit records for 30–80 suppliers. Affinity QMS's Supplier Management module maintains your approved supplier list, tracks verification activities, and links each supplier's COA history to your production records — satisfying both FSMA Subpart F and SQF supplier approval requirements in one system. Learn more about Supplier Management →
HARPC Plan Documentation — Your Food Safety Plan Is a Living Document Most Manufacturers Manage in Spreadsheets
FSMA requires a written Food Safety Plan that documents your hazard analysis, preventive controls, monitoring procedures, corrective action procedures, verification activities, and recall plan. It must be reassessed any time a significant change occurs — and "significant change" happens constantly in food manufacturing. Most companies manage this in a Word document or spreadsheet that drifts out of date within months of the last reanalysis. Affinity QMS maintains your HARPC plan as a living document, linked to the process changes, corrective actions, and supplier modifications that trigger reanalysis.
SQF Audit Readiness — SQF Requires Documented Corrective Actions, Supplier Approval Programs, and Internal Audits in One Connected System
SQF certification requires far more than a HACCP plan. SQF Level 2 and Level 3 require a fully functional quality management system: documented corrective actions with root cause and effectiveness verification, a formal supplier approval program with ongoing monitoring, and a scheduled internal audit program with findings tracked to resolution. Companies that approach SQF as a documentation exercise — rather than a quality system exercise — struggle with recertification. Affinity QMS is built around the quality system requirements that SQF actually assesses.
Supplier Approval Programs — Managing Incoming Material Specs, COAs, and Supplier Audits for 50+ Suppliers Across a Production Facility
A mid-size food manufacturer can have 40–80 raw material and ingredient suppliers. FSMA Subpart F requires documented supplier verification activities for every supplier providing a raw material with an identified hazard. SQF and BRC add their own supplier approval requirements on top of FSMA. Managing this across dozens of suppliers — without a system for COA tracking, re-qualification scheduling, and verification activity documentation — creates the kind of gap that generates observation 483s and audit non-conformances. Affinity QMS automates the tracking and documentation of your entire supplier approval program.
Affinity QMS supports the full food safety certification stack — from FSMA compliance through every major GFSI-recognized scheme your retail or foodservice customers may require.
Unlike SafetyChain's food-only platform, Affinity QMS serves food manufacturers who also operate supplement lines, contract labs, or co-manufacturing arrangements.
SafetyChain is a capable food safety platform — built specifically for food manufacturers, and it shows. But the food industry doesn't exist in isolation. Food manufacturers frequently operate dietary supplement co-manufacturing lines under 21 CFR Part 111. Some run in-house testing labs that need ISO 17025 accreditation. Others co-pack products for brands in multiple regulated categories. SafetyChain requires a second subscription, a second system, and a second validation package the moment you step outside food manufacturing. Affinity QMS was designed from the ground up for exactly these cross-vertical arrangements. One platform, one quality system, one validation package — regardless of how many regulated categories your business touches.
See how Affinity QMS gives food and beverage manufacturers a HARPC-compliant, SQF-ready quality system — without SafetyChain's food-only limitations or enterprise pricing.