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In the fruit juice industry, trust is built drop by drop. Behind every carton of apple, grape, or citrus juice sits a chain of quality checks, traceability requirements, and sampling protocols — many of them invisible to the consumer. But for SGF, the global food integrity organization based in Germany, that invisible work is everything.
Each year, SGF’s auditors visit hundreds of juice processing facilities around the world, inspecting processes, drawing product samples, and ensuring compliance with industry best practices. From Argentina to Vietnam, their work supports fair trade, combats food fraud, and protects both brands and consumers.
But managing this complexity with inconsistent tools was slowing them down. With flowdit, SGF has reimagined how global audits are conducted, how samples are tracked, and how quality is reported — one intelligent checklist at a time.
The Global Backbone of Juice Integrity
SGF International e.V., founded in 2004 and rooted in the original Schutzgemeinschaft der Fruchtsaft-Industrie (1974), is a non-profit association that supports voluntary industrial self-control. Its mission: to verify the authenticity, traceability, and compliance of fruit-based products around the world.
Unlike governmental inspections, SGF’s audits are voluntary but widely respected across the industry. Members join to prove their commitment to transparency, sustainability, and food integrity.
Each audit involves two key components: a thorough questionnaire addressing hygiene, traceability, and process compliance — and a set of representative product samples collected on-site, labeled, and sent to SGF’s independent laboratories for analysis.
With over 400 audits annually, this process needs to run like clockwork. But for years, it was slowed by technical limitations.
Sampling Was Manual. Traceability Was Painful.
SGF had used digital tools before — but none were flexible enough to support the depth and logic their audits required. The existing system couldn’t handle conditional question logic, offered poor multilingual support, and didn’t provide auditors with the freedom to switch between desktop and mobile environments during prep and fieldwork.
Auditors had to juggle spreadsheets, disconnected sample lists, and inconsistent documentation formats. Labeling errors occurred. Sample IDs were entered manually. Questions that should have branched into sub-questions had to be skipped or explained outside the form.
Even more critically, lab results couldn’t be easily linked to audit records, leading to inefficiencies in scoring, reporting, and communicating findings to members.
“It wasn’t just about collecting data,” explained SGF’s technical lead. “We needed a system that could model how our audits actually work — conditional questions, multilingual interfaces, unique sample identifiers, traceability from the factory floor to the test report.”
That system didn’t exist — until SGF discovered flowdit.
Digitizing Audits Without Sacrificing Scientific Rigor
flowdit (formerly flowdit) was introduced to SGF after an extensive evaluation of form-based solutions that could handle complex workflows. What stood out immediately was its ability to create path-dependent audit questions, assign unique IDs, and manage mobile and desktop workflows with full synchronization.
Auditors could now prepare their audit checklists at their desks, then switch to tablets or smartphones in the field — with no data loss, lag, or need to re-enter anything. Sample codes were generated automatically, matched to specific product lines or machinery, and linked to GPS coordinates, timestamps, and facility IDs.
Back in the lab, test results could be uploaded and matched to the original inspection record, allowing for faster analysis and immediate reporting to the member facility. If a deviation was found, auditors could reference not just the lab data but the precise process step or machine it originated from — all in one system.
The transition wasn’t without hesitation. Many auditors had used the previous system for years. But once flowdit’s capabilities were demonstrated — and its ease of use proven in the field — the momentum shifted quickly.
“It’s rare that a digital tool actually adapts to you,” said one auditor. “flowdit felt like it was designed by someone who had actually walked through a juice plant.”
More Transparency, Less Time, Stronger Oversight
The impact of flowdit has been felt at every level of SGF’s audit operation. Sample collection is faster, cleaner, and better documented. Audit records are more consistent across auditors, languages, and continents. Lab data is easier to evaluate and share. And the final reports — including pass/fail outcomes and suggestions for corrective actions — are more complete and professional.
What once required email chains, spreadsheets, and scanned labels can now be completed in a single, integrated workflow.
Today, over 20 auditors use flowdit across roughly 50 countries. From small juice processors to global beverage brands, all members benefit from the enhanced accuracy, speed, and credibility this system enables.
Even legal traceability has improved. Should a compliance issue arise post-audit, SGF can now provide precise digital records — from sample IDs to photographic evidence — that show exactly what was inspected, when, and under what conditions.
A New Standard for Global Food Control
For SGF, flowdit isn’t just a digital tool — it’s a strategic enabler of their mission. By combining mobile inspections, lab integration, and workflow logic, the organization has built a new foundation for quality assurance in the fruit juice industry.
And this is just the beginning. SGF is already exploring the use of flowdit in supplier self-assessments, cross-border audits, and sustainability tracking.
“Integrity starts with visibility,” said the technical lead. “And thanks to flowdit, we now see more — and faster — than ever before.”
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