Food Safety Consulting in Houston for Food Manufacturers & Processors

At J Wagstaff & Associates, we help small to mid-sized food businesses in Houston improve compliance, pass audits, and boost profitability through expert food safety consulting and process improvement services.

We Can Help You​

Design an Expansion
Plan a New Facility
Process Efficiency
Food Safety
Implement Technologies
Improve Yield
Design Process Improvements
Get Certified

Food safety is not our only concern. We also focus on your bottom line. By improving yield and efficiency, we help you save money. The result is a safer and more profitable business.

Our Houston-Based Food Safety Consulting Services

  • GFSI & SQF Certification Support – Navigate global food safety frameworks with confidence.
  • HACCP Planning & Implementation – Meet USDA and FDA requirements with compliant, audit-ready systems.
  • Food Facility Design Consulting – Optimize layout for safety, hygiene, and operational efficiency.
  • Process Improvement & Yield Optimization – Lean strategies to reduce waste and boost ROI.

GFSI

Global food and beverage firms developed the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). The GFSI ensures safe food and drink production processes. It is the gold standard in food safety.

 

GFSI certification is voluntary. No laws require you to be GFSI certified. 

 

Food and drink companies get accredited to show that they follow GFSI standards. It makes you more competitive. If you want to expand your business, GFSI certification is critical. That applies to local and international markets. Certification and passing GFSI audits reassure customers that you follow safety protocols.

 

The global nature of the GFSI complicates certification. There is no GFSI safety scheme. Instead, the GFSI develops, reviews, and updates safety standards. Nations and food use those standards to build food safety schemes.

 

As a result, GFSI recognizes several food safety schemes around the globe. In the U.S.A., the main GFSI scheme is the Safe Quality Food (SQF) program. SQF is our specialty.

SQF

SQF is a GFSI benchmarked food safety standard. It uses Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) to guide its standards.

How you implement SQF depends on several factors. They include

Recent changes to SQF have focused on audits. They got rid of the initial desk audit. Instead, audits are now on-site. They also allow remote audits. Understanding the audit process can show you where to focus. 

HACCP

HACCP focuses on food safety. It involves looking for hazards. Those hazards may be

Hazards can be present at any time. So, a HACCP analysis includes all food production and distribution stages. Those stages are the critical control points. They differ for different foods and drinks.

Globally, compliance with the HACCP is voluntary. However, in the U.S.A., it is mandatory. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires processing plants to be HACCP compliant.

Some critics suggest that HACCP focuses too much on post-process contamination. Your plan needs to involve prevention, as well. SQF helps you comply with HACCP and GFSI.

Facility Design

Starting with the right design helps ensure food safety. A good plan helps you

Food safety once focused on pest control. It now focuses on pest prevention. Keeping pests out is easier than getting rid of them. No facility can be totally pest-proof. However, we can use best practices to make design better buildings. The right design can make you pest resistant. The fewer pests that get in, the easier they are to control.

Is your facility easy to clean? Choosing the right surfaces can make a big difference. During design, we focus on sanitizing. Once complete, your facility will be easy to clean. The design depends on whether you will use cleaned-in-place (CIP) or cleaned-out-of-place (COP) systems. The easier it is to clean, the easier it is to pass inspections and audits.

Want to promote hygiene? Hygiene is key to preventing cross-contamination. Easy-to-access restrooms and handwashing stations can help. Keeping break areas away from food production areas reduces risk. We help you plan a layout that makes sense and promotes hygiene.

Finally, all buildings need maintenance. We design for the future, keeping maintenance needs in mind. You should be able to maintain your facility without shutting it down.

Process Improvement

We can help you focus on lean manufacturing. As a production consultant, focusing on lean means reducing or eliminating waste. Reducing waste increases value for the customer and for your business.
We look for opportunities to increase efficiency. Do you have

The benefits of lean operations impact your entire business process. First, it reduces costs. For many businesses, the cost savings alone are enough to encourage lean manufacturing.

However, it saves more than money. It can also save time and energy. That can free up resources for innovation.

Reduce Waste
Food manufacturing has two main types of waste. The first type is in production itself. Do you use every part of a recipe for your finished product? If you make too much of any ingredient, that is waste. Spoilage is another issue. If you order too much inventory, you must deal with spoilage. Focusing on both types of waste helps us eliminate it.
Reduce Costs
Reducing costs can be difficult. Currently, many food manufacturers are struggling because the price of ingredients is rising. You may be able to find cheaper alternatives, but you have to consider whether that will impact quality. Instead, you can look at the costs of overproduction. Are you spending money to store goods because you overproduce? Do you spend too much to keep raw materials?
Reduce TIme
Time is money, especially in food production. Reducing time means you get your products to your customers more efficiently. It allows you to work with shorter turnaround times. It also saves labor costs.
Improve Quality
Finally, you can never lose sight of quality. People choose your goods because they offer the best price and quality combination. You cannot sacrifice quality to save time, reduce costs, or eliminate waste. Fortunately, we can help you make those improvements while focusing on high-quality production.
To understand how process improvement can help you, here are our four goals for every client.

Continous Improvement

The value stream is from your perspective. What are the costs at every stage, from acquiring raw materials to selling to the customer?

Flow refers to how all of your processes work together. Do you have barriers to flow? If so, we work to remove them to minimize production delays.

Our final goal is perfection. Because perfection is usually unattainable, that means a commitment to continuous improvement. We can help you implement a culture focused on continuous improvement, where analyzing metrics and quality are all part of your daily business strategy.

Policies & Procedures
Policies and procedures are the rules your staff should follow. We help you hone them to enhance safety. Good policies include training and discipline plans. You must plan to teach your team and reinforce those lessons. Without those plans, your policies are too weak to help you.
Processes
Your processes are how you turn raw ingredients into a finished product. We can analyze them for contamination points. Those are when hazards can enter the food. We can help you change them to reduce risks.
Records
Records reveal whether your staff is following policies, procedures, and processes. You need them to audit your team. You also need them to track any food that may be contaminated.

Does that seem complicated? That is where J Wagstaff and Associates can help.

Although specific requirements vary from scheme to scheme, they all focus on three essential elements.

We can help you implement these schemes. Doing so helps ensure year-round food safety.

Background

Our founder has a background in food safety and process improvement engineering.

His skills and qualifications include experience in

Serving Houston’s Food Industry with Local Expertise

We proudly serve clients across Houston, including manufacturers, processors, commissary kitchens, and specialty food producers. With deep local knowledge of Texas regulatory expectations, we’re your go-to partner for food safety consulting in Houston.

Contact J Wagstaff and Associates today to schedule your consultation.​

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