Letter of Guarantee from Raw Material Supplier
Hello all,
As a box company we are working to acquire a SQF compliant facility. I have a question that I am stuck on about raw materials. Our consultant said it was best for us to receive a letter of guarantee when it comes to the raw material assessment. Now he said to ask every supplier if they where compliant with the fda regulation 21 cfr. Is this need from every supplier? If not what exactly should I ask of the suppliers to send us? We have received some letters about 85% of the suppliers say they do abide by this regulation.
Thank you
Nowhere in SQF have I seen any requirements for a letter from suppliers that state that they meet FDA regs. Unless they show you the results of their FDA inspection (which most companies consider confidential info) a letter stating that they "passed the inspection" holds no more water than a letter of guarantee.
Not to say it's not one way to aid in your decision to qualify suppliers but keep in mind that with regards to supplier approval there's more than one way to go about it. Supplier food safety and quality questionnaires (always ask if the supplier is GFSI certified; that's kind of considered an automatic approval criterion), supplier audits, letter of guarantee (or letter of conformance), etc.
I'll add that your Supplier Approval Program should include a risk analysis for each supplier, and this needs to be reassesed on a regular basis.
You'll have to get further explaination from your consultant. But I have a sense of where this is coming from. He wants the letter to state that all raw materials supplied to your company is FDA approved for direct food contact see 21 CFR Parts 174-179. Proof that non approval addivities are in in your packing material. The code does not directly mandate this but checkout 2.1.1.1 iii
You'll have to get further explaination from your consultant. But I have a sense of where this is coming from. He wants the letter to state that all raw materials supplied to your company is FDA approved for direct food contact see 21 CFR Parts 174-179. Proof that non approval addivities are in in your packing material. The code does not directly mandate this but checkout 2.1.1.1 iii
Yes, the statement "Now he said to ask every supplier if they were compliant with the fda regulation 21 cfr" in the OP is surely meaningless. Which also seems to be saying something about the "consultant". ?
Rgds / Charles.C
Thanks, thats the one thing I was confused with because in the code it never said anything about that code. So what I plan on doing for those companies that dont supply a letter is to do a supplier questionaire to help with my risk assesment of their company. Would you agree that this is the right way to go about it? And thanks again everyone!! :smile: