Madison Food Safety Consultant
HACCP, Preventive Controls, and SQF programs for Madison's cheesemakers, food manufacturers, and distributors.
Whether you make cheese, snacks, sauces, baked goods, beverages, or meat products, certification is now the price of entry to grocery shelves and distributor contracts. Madison-area food businesses answer to Wisconsin DATCP, FDA, USDA, and increasingly to buyers who require GFSI certification before the first purchase order. Our food safety consultants pair decades of audit-floor experience with FoodReady's AI-powered platform to take you from first walkthrough to certification: gap assessment, documentation, implementation, mock audit, and audit-day support. Tell us which certification or license you are chasing and we will map the fastest route to it.
A region where certification is what opens the market
Madison's food economy runs wider than Wisconsin's dairy reputation suggests. Dane County and the surrounding region hold manufacturers and processors across nearly every category: cheese and cultured dairy, baked goods, snacks, sauces and condiments, beverages and coffee, meat and sausage, produce, and ready-to-eat foods. Around them sit the co-packers, shared kitchens, warehouses, and cold-chain operators that move product from southern Wisconsin to shelves across the country. What unites them is the certification wall. Regional grocers, national retailers, and broadline distributors increasingly require third-party certification before onboarding a supplier, and Wisconsin's own licensing adds a state layer on top. Brands that get certified early close accounts faster, while brands that wait scramble through gap assessments under deadline pressure. We work both situations every week, and we build programs that pass the audit and then keep running after the certificate is on the wall.
Meeting your buyer's rules, not just the regulator's
Grocery chains, co-ops, and broadline distributors each run their own supplier-approval process on top of state licensing. Passing your DATCP inspection gets you legal. It does not get you an approved-supplier letter. Buyers in this market routinely ask for HACCP or Preventive Controls plans, recall procedures, allergen programs, certificates of insurance, and third-party certification audits before the first purchase order. Producers that prepare supplier packets in advance close accounts faster, and our teams build the evidence buyers actually check.
- Approved-supplier and specification packages for grocers, co-ops, and distributors
- Foodservice and GFSI customer specification management
- Mock recalls and traceability exercises that prove your system works
- HACCP and FSMA Preventive Controls plans tailored to your facility and products
- Allergen, sanitation, and recall programs buyers verify before onboarding
- Certificate and document packets kept current and ready on demand
Category-specific hazards, category-specific controls
Every product category carries its own hazard profile, and certification auditors dig into the controls that match yours. Two categories we see most across the Madison region, and the controls that decide their audits:
CHEESE AND CULTURED DAIRY
Where pathogen control and aging decide the audit
Wisconsin cheese and cultured dairy live on pathogen control, aging, and sanitation. Get the controls right and product is safe and consistent, get them wrong and you invite Listeria, spoilage, and recall risk.
- Listeria environmental monitoring, zoning, and sanitation
- Pasteurization, raw-milk aging, and process controls
- Allergen and label controls across cultured products
- Dairy plant and cheesemaker licensing support
SAUCES, CONDIMENTS, AND ACIDIFIED FOODS
Acidified foods and dry blends, done by the rule
Sauces and condiments often fall under acidified food rules, and dry seasoning blends carry their own microbial and adulteration risks. Both need controls that hold up to FDA scrutiny.
- Acidified food process filings and process authority review
- pH, water activity, and preservative controls for shelf life
- Pathogen and treatment controls for spices and dry blends
- Supplier approval for imported ingredients
Get the Wisconsin licensing right before the first case ships
Wisconsin runs an unusually consolidated food program through DATCP, with a dairy layer no other state has. We confirm which licenses and standards apply to your operation before building the program.
| DATCP Food | Food processing plants and warehouses | The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Division of Food and Recreational Safety, licenses wholesale food processing plants under the ATCP 70 rules. Wholesaling under this license lets you sell anywhere, and canned goods and processed fish can only be made in a licensed food processing plant. |
| DATCP Dairy | Dairy plants and licensed cheesemakers | Dairy processors need a dairy plant license, and Wisconsin is the only state that also requires a licensed cheesemaker, earned through a 240-hour apprenticeship and a state exam, to supervise cheese production. Milk buyers add a milk contractor license. |
| DATCP Meat | Meat and poultry | DATCP runs Wisconsin's state meat inspection program for meat and poultry sold within the state, while products sold across state lines fall under USDA FSIS with sanitary dressing, SSOP, and validated HACCP requirements. |
| FDA | Interstate and acidified foods | Interstate sales bring FDA Preventive Controls under 21 CFR 117, and acidified products such as many sauces require a filed process under 21 CFR Part 114 with a process authority review. Covered Food Traceability List items add FSMA 204 lot-level recordkeeping. |
| Local | Retail and direct sale | In Madison, Public Health Madison and Dane County is the agent health department for retail and on-site food service, and Dane County requires a Certified Food Protection Manager. Producers who both wholesale and sell direct must satisfy each track. |
Facilities that both make and store product, or that both wholesale and sell at retail, often need more than one license. We map the full set that applies to your operation before building a single program that satisfies every authority at once.
Right-sized programs for how the region makes and moves food
Cheese and dairy plants
Cheesemakers and cultured-dairy processors managing pathogen control, aging, and dairy licensing.
Bakery and snack
Bakeries and snack makers scaling into retail and foodservice with shelf-life and allergen needs.
Sauce, condiment, and spice
Acidified and dry-blend producers that need filed processes and microbial controls.
Meat and sausage
State and USDA-inspected processors, a Wisconsin staple, with heavy pathogen-control needs.
Co-manufacturers and co-packers
Facilities serving multiple brand customers, each with its own specification and audit.
Distributors and cold storage
I-90 and I-94 corridor distribution and 3PL operations carrying the traceability burden.
Every framework an inspector or retailer asks for
We prepare Madison facilities for the certifications and regulatory frameworks that retailers, co-ops, distributors, and inspectors expect, then keep the program running between audits.
HACCP
SQF
BRCGS
FSSC 22000
FSMA Preventive Controls
GMP and cGMP
USDA
GFSI-aligned
Software that keeps approved-supplier evidence ready on demand
Consulting gets you certified. The platform keeps you ready. Built with expert food safety guidance and tailored to different industries, it produces the organized records that retailers, auditors, and inspectors expect to see.
AI HACCP Builder
Pre-built templates cut HACCP plan development from hours to minutes, with expert guidance built in.
AI SOPs and Checklists
Automatically generates SOPs and checklists, flags missed tasks, and keeps protocols on track.
Batch and Inventory
Real-time tracking of production, inventory, and cost, reducing errors that create compliance gaps.
Traceability and Recall
Links ingredients to finished products for fast mock recalls and clean, defensible audits.
Supplier Compliance
Automates supplier document management and updates, cutting manual effort and adding transparency.
Live Monitoring and Alerts
Dashboards track KPIs in real time and send instant alerts on incidents so you can act quickly.
A steady path from first walkthrough to contract-ready
Diagnostic review
An on-site or virtual assessment that maps flows, zoning, and controls and measures your systems against your target standard, Wisconsin licensing, and any buyer requirements, ending in a prioritized action plan.
Documentation build
We create or refine hazard analysis, preventive controls, SSOPs and prerequisite programs, acidified process filings where needed, supplier approval, and recall and traceability, with practical forms.
Sanitation and monitoring
For RTE and higher-risk areas we design environmental monitoring, zone mapping, swab frequencies, Listeria and Salmonella strategies, trending, and corrective actions, with digital capture.
Readiness verification
We run a focused mock audit, coach your recordkeepers, confirm the system performs on the floor, and help close remaining gaps with effective CAPAs before the real audit or buyer visit.
Dave Seddon, MBA, RDN, LDN
Dave is a co-founder of FoodReady and a longtime food safety auditor and consultant who has conducted more than 500 GFSI audits for SQF and GMP certification across the United States, and was a finalist for SQF Auditor of the Year. He is driven to ensure organizational requirements meet the challenges of technology integration with sound food safety and quality planning, with a focus on risk mitigation and prevention. He brings an auditor's eye to your documentation, hazard analysis, and records, so your programs satisfy certifiers, buyers, and inspectors alike, from Madison cheesemakers and bakeries to sauce producers, meat processors, and co-packers.
Luke Duffy
Sr. Director, Quality & Customer Success
Denice Beccard
Senior Director of Quality, PCQI, SQF practitioner
Maggie Kratovil
Food Safety Tech Supervisor, SQF practitioner
Sam Pena
Digital Transformation, Lean Six Sigma black belt
"FoodReady built out the food safety and HACCP plans for all our products, then the SOPs and checklists. Eurobake passed an FDA inspection within 4 weeks, a GMP audit within 3 months, and a GFSI audit within 8 months. We also passed a Costco audit."
Questions we hear from Dane County food teams
Who licenses food manufacturers in Wisconsin?
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Division of Food and Recreational Safety, issues food processing plant, dairy plant, and meat establishment licenses statewide. Facilities that both make and store product often need more than one license. Interstate sales bring FDA jurisdiction, and retail in Madison runs through Public Health Madison and Dane County.
We make sauces or spice blends. What controls do we need?
Sauces often fall under acidified food rules requiring a filed process and process authority review, and dry spice blends need microbial and adulteration controls. We build pH, water activity, preservative, and supplier controls into your plan so it holds up to FDA scrutiny.
Can you prepare us for SQF, BRCGS, or other GFSI audits?
Yes. We prepare facilities for SQF, BRCGS, and FSSC 22000, plus HACCP, FSMA Preventive Controls, GMP and cGMP, and USDA documentation. We run gap assessments, build documentation, run mock audits, and coach staff. We do not provide certification training.
We make cheese. What does Wisconsin require?
Cheese production needs a dairy plant license and a licensed cheesemaker, which Wisconsin uniquely requires through a 240-hour apprenticeship and a state exam, plus Grade A dairy farm licensing for the milk source. We build the Listeria, sanitation, and process controls behind it and prepare you for buyer audits.
We are a co-manufacturer with several customers. Can you simplify our audits?
Yes. Rather than maintaining a separate system for each brand customer, we build one core program and map each customer's specification and audit standard to it, so you meet every buyer without duplicating work.
How long does it take to become audit ready?
It depends on your current program and the standard or contract you are targeting. Some Madison facilities are ready within weeks of the diagnostic review, others take several months. We build a roadmap around your date and tackle the highest-impact items first.
Speak with our Expert Consultants
15–30 minutes. We map FoodReady to your process, plug in your real HACCP plan, and show you the auditor view before the call ends.