Food Safety

Food safety is foundational to our mission at Cal-Maine Foods. Over our 60-year history as a leading fresh shell egg provider, we have developed and maintained what we believe to be a best-in-class Safe Quality Food (SQF) Management Program, which is supervised by our Food Safety Department and regularly reviewed and approved at least annually by our senior management team. 


The Global Food Safety Initiative™ (GFSI) recognized our SQF program in 2004 as GFSI-compliant, and in 2009 we adopted the Safe Quality Food™ certification, the scope of which covers our processing plants and self-produced finished product volumes. We are proud of our ability to meet or exceed SQF standards, and in fiscal years 2021, 2022 and 2023 attained SQF certification at 100% of our processing facilities, which are all the facilities in scope. We also require our contract suppliers to conform to the requirements of this certification.

Cal-Maine Foods believes that our people comprise the first line of defense to uphold and enhance our quality food safety practices. Given our more than 60-year history as a leading fresh shell egg provider, we have developed and maintain what we believe is a best-in-class Safe Quality Food Management Policy (Quality Food Policy), which is supervised by our Food Safety Department and regularly reviewed and approved by our senior management team at least annually. Our Food Safety Department helps ensure that, at onboarding and during applicable colleagues’ tenures, we provide training that helps colleagues become practitioners of safe quality food production and finishing best practices.

Ryn Laster, Ph.D.

Director of Food Safety and Animal Welfare

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