21 replies to this topic

[BoomBoom]

Good Day to all!
We have debate going about SQF 2000 Code section 6.10 regarding approved suppliers. The question is whether this applies to raw materials and packaging only or does it also cover all of the company's suppliers?

Reading the guidance document provided by SQFI it appears that it would be raw materials only, but in the code itself it does not specify.

Also, any supplier questionnaire I have seen relates to food products only and would not be something I could send the electric company.

Has anyone had experience with this with an auditor to know what they are looking for exactly?

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Tom

[Tony-C]

Good Day to all!
We have debate going about SQF 2000 Code section 6.10 regarding approved suppliers. The question is whether this applies to raw materials and packaging only or does it also cover all of the company's suppliers?

Reading the guidance document provided by SQFI it appears that it would be raw materials only, but in the code itself it does not specify.

Also, any supplier questionnaire I have seen relates to food products only and would not be something I could send the electric company.

Has anyone had experience with this with an auditor to know what they are looking for exactly?

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Tom

Hi Tom

Your supplier assessement should be based on risk: what is being supplied, what are the hazards associated with it, how reliable is the supplier and what are the chances of it causing a food safety issue.

Utilities can cause problems e.g water used in product or for cleaning. At the end of the day your system needs to be practical and electric could be covered off by having a mutually agreed and signed contract that covers essential elements that you would expect. E.g. Emergency contacts and procedures.

Kind regards,

Tony

[Charles.C]

Dear Boomboom,

No experience of SQF but as per Tony's comment, "approved suppliers" typically covers "pertaining to food safety" unless specifically stated otherwise.

Some of these aspects may be automatically covered within SSOPs such as water suppliers but detergents, chemical, packaging suppliers etc are usually ranked "approved" by reason of having provided appropriate documentation for their products / passed audits etc.

Hopefully a SQF user will see this thread. Cathy ??

Rgds / Charles.C

[BoomBoom]

Thank you Tony and Charles.

Your answers get me much closer to what I need.
I'm still holding out hope that someone with SQF experience can shed some light on how an SQF auditor would view this.

Thanks!
Tom

[Simon]

Hi Tom,

You would normally have different classifications groups of supplier and specify what Supplier Quality Assurance activities and documentation are required for each group; as mentioned this would be based on risk assessment. For example groups could be:

Ingredient Supplier
(comprehensive questionnaire, certifications, approval audit, agreed specifications, certificates of conformity, certificates of analysis, ongoing audit, performance measurement)

Primary Packaging Supplier
(comprehensive questionnaire, certifications, approval audit, agreed specifications, certificates of conformity, ongoing audit, performance measurement)

Secondary Packaging Supplier
(comprehensive questionnaire, certifications, agreed specifications, certificates of conformity, performance measurement)

External Laboratory
(light questionnaire, certifications)

Calibration Supplier
(light questionnaire, certifications)

Pen Supplier
(zilch)

Just an example.

Regards,
Simon

[BoomBoom]

Thanks Simon!

That really puts it into better perspective.

[Simon]

Glad to help Tom. Has anyone got an example Supplier QA matrix to share?

[aquatame]

Hey Everyone,
My facility has just been through and passed the SQF 2000 on site audit.
We have a supplier approval matix and it covers Raw Materials and Packaging only, not utilities. The auditor seemed more than happy with this.
Our risk categories are as follows
A - Highest Risk - Ingredients and flavours
B - High Risk - Food Contact Packaging
C - Moderate Risk - Non Food Contact Packaging
D - Tertiary Packaging
Each supplier started out with a vendor rating of 10 and this will become lower with issues such as late deliveries, defects, lack of documentation etc.........

Jon

[BoomBoom]

Thanks Jon! That's very helpful. After reading your post, I think we are on the right track!


Tom

[Dale P]

Glad to help Tom. Has anyone got an example Supplier QA matrix to share?

I was wondering if anyone had one as well, as it would be very helpful to me too.

Thanks,

Dale

[Charles.C]

Dear All,

We have a supplier approval matix and it covers Raw Materials and Packaging only, not utilities. The auditor seemed more than happy with this.

The obvious question is - Why ?

IMO this is a Black mark for SQF unless there is a good reason.

Has anyone got an example Supplier QA matrix to share?

In fact there are several examples of Supplier Approval produres on this forum but a generalised matrix format seems less easy IMO since, for example, raw materials and packaging require considerably different assessment techniques in any numerical sense. Nonetheless, I will be quite happy to be proven wrong.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Tony-C]

Pen Supplier
(zilch)

Just an example.

Regards,
Simon

Maybe but I would suggest that you may want to have a document/specification to say your pens are food grade and metal detectable where appropriate.


Regards,

Tony

[cazyncymru]

Good Day to all!
We have debate going about SQF 2000 Code section 6.10 regarding approved suppliers. The question is whether this applies to raw materials and packaging only or does it also cover all of the company's suppliers?

Reading the guidance document provided by SQFI it appears that it would be raw materials only, but in the code itself it does not specify.

Also, any supplier questionnaire I have seen relates to food products only and would not be something I could send the electric company.

Has anyone had experience with this with an auditor to know what they are looking for exactly?

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Tom

We got picked up on our BRC audit 2 years ago in that we didn't include all suppliers for items that were used in the factory. So my risk assessment includes EVERYTHING, including stationary supplies, water, electricity etc

Caz

[Nilly]

Hey Everyone,
My facility has just been through and passed the SQF 2000 on site audit.
We have a supplier approval matix and it covers Raw Materials and Packaging only, not utilities. The auditor seemed more than happy with this.
Our risk categories are as follows
A - Highest Risk - Ingredients and flavours
B - High Risk - Food Contact Packaging
C - Moderate Risk - Non Food Contact Packaging
D - Tertiary Packaging
Each supplier started out with a vendor rating of 10 and this will become lower with issues such as late deliveries, defects, lack of documentation etc.........

Jon

Hi Jon,
for the risk Categories how did you know which ingredient has high /medium/low risk is there any formula for that or you just put all your ingredients as highest risk?
Thanks

[Nilly]

I was wondering if anyone had one as well, as it would be very helpful to me too.

Thanks,

Dale

If you found one Dale i need it too:)

[Tony-C]

Hi Jon,
for the risk Categories how did you know which ingredient has high /medium/low risk is there any formula for that or you just put all your ingredients as highest risk?
Thanks

Perhaps I can help:

Due to the fact ingredients and flavours are going into a product they are regarded as high risk.
They may be further categorised depending on the nature of the process. For example if there is a potential hazard in the ingredient that will not be removed by the process then this supplier and ingredient may be regarded as critical. One such example is Skimmed Milk Powder in Chocolate, it has the potential to contain pathogens such as Salmonella that will not be destroyed in the chocolate manufacturing process.

Regards,

Tony

[Charles.C]

Dear Tony,

Unquestionably good stuff . I wonder how deep the auditor actually expects the response to go or whether he/she will even understand these subtleties. Whatever, it should produce a nicely comprehensive SQF document which is what we all want of course .

Rgds / Charles.C

[Cathy]

I am an SQF Auditor and I look for supplier approval / control in areas that may impact food safety or quality. The company defines this and I look for logical decisions. If you have good foreiogn object control, the pens would not be part of this. I'm not sure about the food grade pen comment. Metal detectable is good but if a pen has food grade ink and it winds up in product, the product is adulterated.

[Charles.C]

Dear Cathy,

Just to be clear. I deduce from yr reply that you do not limit yr scope to raw materials and packaging supplies?. If so, it would seem that some users of SQF hv found some "nice" auditors.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Cathy]

You are correct - as in so many things - "it depends". Completing an SQF audit is a big job with what sometimes seems like never enough time. Auditors need to stick to the schedule, the code, and the primary food safety concerns (raw material and packaging). But if other issus are apparent - and could impact food safety then they are included. The one that comes to mind for me that people sometimes forget is processing aids.

[Charles.C]

Dear Cathy,

Thks for the reply.

It depends on the process of course but my own favourite target would be chemicals, especially the ones labelled as X1 on the production line (turned out to be a hospital recommended floor disinfectant used to "sanitise" shrimp). Engineering-related liquids stored in the processing area is another good one.

Rgds / Charles.C

[chipollinij]

You are correct - as in so many things - "it depends". Completing an SQF audit is a big job with what sometimes seems like never enough time. Auditors need to stick to the schedule, the code, and the primary food safety concerns (raw material and packaging). But if other issus are apparent - and could impact food safety then they are included. The one that comes to mind for me that people sometimes forget is processing aids.

Cathy,
What is your definition for processing aids ?