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HACCP Flow charts and 'confidentiality'

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dani2511

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Posted 11 June 2018 - 03:14 PM

Hi all,

 

We are brand owners and are currently working towards BRC Storage & Distribution standard. We outsource all of our manufacturing and packaging to external parties.

 

One of our packaging suppliers is refusing to provide us with information regarding their HACCP flow and risk assessment. They say that this is available during audit.

 

I haven't come across this before - is this normal? Do we have a leg to stand on in our request, or are companies within their right to refuse this information?

 

Thanks.

dani2511


Edited by dani2511, 11 June 2018 - 03:14 PM.


Scampi

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Posted 11 June 2018 - 03:35 PM

It is absolutely their right to refuse, just as it's yours to insist if they want your business

 

Let's assume they make laminated heat seal film (as an example) and they have come up (on their own) a better way to laminate the layers.....the flow diagram may contain proprietary information about the mechanism they use in this process

 

If you have not done so, schedule an appointment for a tour, and request any audit reports that they have including allergen information etc.

 

Then perform your own risk assessment, how risky is the packaging, how long have they been in business, etc etc etc 

 

HACCP plans et all are incredibly costly to develop and maintain and do contain enough information to copy a process, or at least give you a good head start.

 

We package private label for a large company, they have requested all sorts of information, but never requested a copy of the plan, nor would I provide it.


Please stop referring to me as Sir/sirs


Gerard H.

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Posted 12 June 2018 - 09:28 AM

Hi Dani,

 

Please, dive into the BRC norm and have a look if you really need to have this risk assessment.

 

A good way to inventarise if the identified supplier risks are covered, is by means of a questionnaire. In case that you want to verify the information given by your supplier, you can carry out an audit and look into their risk assessment. 

 

Kind regards,

 

Gerard Heerkens



moskito

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Posted 16 June 2018 - 03:53 PM

Hi,

 

we ask and we are often asked for flow charts, HACCP docs.

We do not want and give confidential informations and often it is not necessary to have process details. We provide special "external" versions which do not give process details e.g. temperatures, time etc. And we have a combination of questionaire and requested documents on risk (and of course we accept "external versions". Details we will see in audits.

 

Rgds

moskito



Spencer Parenteau

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Posted 12 October 2023 - 11:47 PM

This really seems like a hot topic, I have issue with this holding up
The sales cycle when there a company simply requests a flow chart. If they can view it in an audit, why can’t they have a copy of a flow chart, sure don’t share the whole HACCP plan. But I can attest there’s nothing proprietary about our HACCP plan or flow charts (I know I created them) but still our QA fights with me to release these documents. I’d like your professional opinions on the whole proprietary nature, if there isn’t anything proprietary, is there really any reason a quality department shouldn’t release these docs?

Thanks,
Spencer



jfrey123

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Posted 13 October 2023 - 09:55 PM

We ask for copies of food safety programs.  Sometimes they send us HACCP flow charts and other internal docs, other times they send us docs that state they have a HACCP program, EMP, Allergen Program, all the basics in a summarized letter.

 

Either is acceptable for our purposes.  And we ourselves do not send copies of the flow charts or detailed program documents.  We also created a summary of our PRP's and controls and invite customers to review on-site if needed.





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