Food Safety
Enterprise Security, Verified: SureTrend® Is Now SOC 2 Type II Certified
SureTrend® Is Now SOC 2 Type II Certified
Food safety professionals use SureTrend® to manage test results, HACCP plans, corrective actions and compliance records. That data represents the documented evidence that a food safety program is working. It deserves a verified standard of protection.
We are proud to announce that Hygiena’s SureTrend Food Safety Management Software has achieved SOC 2 Type II certification. Here's what that means and why it matters to food safety companies.
What Is SOC 2 Type II?
SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is an auditing framework developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). It evaluates how a software company manages the security, availability and integrity of customer data.
There are two levels of SOC 2 certification, and the difference matters.
SOC 2 Type I is a point-in-time assessment. An auditor reviews whether a company's security controls are correctly designed: are the right systems in place?
SOC 2 Type II requires more. An independent auditor observes a company's security controls in operation over an extended period, typically 6 to 12 months, and verifies that those controls worked consistently throughout. The question is: did the controls perform as intended, in practice, over time?
Type II certification requires sustained operational rigor. It cannot be earned overnight.
What an Auditor Actually Examines
A SOC 2 Type II audit evaluates a company across up to five Trust Service Criteria:
- Security: Protection of systems and data from unauthorized access, including firewalls, multi-factor authentication, encryption, and continuous monitoring.
- Availability: System uptime and reliability commitments, including backup systems and disaster recovery planning.
- Processing Integrity: Assurance that data is processed completely, accurately, and on time.
- Confidentiality: Confirmation that sensitive data is protected from disclosure and never shared outside defined, authorized purposes.
- Privacy: Appropriate handling of personal information, including compliance with GDPR and CCPA.
Auditors test controls across access management, encryption, change management, incident response, vendor security assessments, and employee background checks. The result is a formal auditor's opinion, issued under professional liability, that a company's controls operated effectively over the audit period.
For enterprise procurement teams and QA directors evaluating software vendors, a SOC 2 Type II report converts the question "How do you protect our data?" from a conversation into a document.
Why This Matters for Food Safety Companies
The food safety industry manages critical compliance records: ATP hygiene monitoring results, environmental pathogen testing histories, HACCP plans, CAPAs and audit reports. These are the records you show a USDA inspector, an SQF auditor, or a major retail customer's supplier qualification team.
Enterprise food manufacturers and their procurement teams increasingly require SOC 2 Type II certification as a baseline condition for vendor approval. Here is why SureTrend's certification matters for food safety teams:
Accelerates Enterprise Sales Cycles
Vendor qualification processes now routinely include security questionnaires, IT reviews and third-party risk assessments. SureTrend's SOC 2 Type II certification means Hygiena® can respond to those requirements with a certified report. That shortens sales cycles and removes barriers to procurement approval.
Satisfies Auditors and Regulators
FSMA, GFSI-recognized schemes such as SQF and BRC, and major customer standards increasingly require organizations to demonstrate oversight of the software platforms holding their compliance data. SOC 2 Type II provides documented, third-party-verified proof that SureTrend handles your data in accordance with a verified standard.
Protects Data That Cannot Be Recreated
Test result histories, zone trending data and CAPA records represent months or years of operational work. Food safety data is often not recoverable if lost or corrupted, and regulators may not accept reconstructed records. SureTrend's certified security controls include AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.2+ encryption in transit, tenant-level data isolation and formally audited backup and recovery procedures.
Customer Data Isolation
Your test results, HACCP plans, corrective action records and compliance documents are completely isolated from every other customer's data. A breach affecting another customer cannot expose yours. Your zone history is never visible to a competitor using the same platform.
Operational Maturity
SOC 2 Type II certification requires formal policies, trained staff, documented change management, incident response plans, and continuous monitoring, all of which are verified to be operating correctly over time. For a platform holding years of compliance data, that matters.
What's Covered in SureTrend's Certification
SureTrend's SOC 2 Type II audit covered:
- Data encryption at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+) for all SureTrend data
- Role-based access controls ensuring data is accessible only by authorized team members
- Multi-factor authentication across all Hygiena systems that access customer data
- Logical customer data isolation, with records completely separated from every other customer's data
- Vendor security assessments, including Microsoft® Azure (hosting) and Stripe (billing)
- Breach detection, incident response procedures, and notification timelines
- Annual penetration testing and vulnerability management
- Employee security training and background checks for all staff with data access
Summary
SOC 2 Type II certification means an independent auditor reviewed SureTrend's security controls and confirmed they operated effectively over time. For food safety teams managing environmental monitoring programs, digital HACCP plans and compliance records, that verification has direct value in procurement conversations, audit responses, and ongoing data protection.
