We process whole grain in a conditioning plant. The plant is entirely fed by a grain elevator that sits adjacent to it with a line that directly feeds the Conditioning Plant.
Though they are attached by the ingredient line, they are separate facilities. (under the same company name)
We are working toward GFSI certification and we only include the Conditioning Plant in our scope because the elevator is simply a separate holding and transfer operation.
During a customer pre-audit meeting this morning, the auditor asked about supplier controls and if we work closely with the elevator to ensure they are providing safe ingredients.
Does this mean that our elevator is technically considered a supplier?
This is something that never occurred to me before as we all (conditioning and elevator office staff) work in the same small office and even though the operations are separate, we've always looked at the two as one company and never considered that under FSMA or our customer requirements, we might need to treat the elevator as a supplier.
If this is the case, do we need to have a supplier control program in place for the elevator?
I am appreciative of any thoughts or suggestions anyone has on this.