BRC Supplier Risk Assessment
At first glance I was thinking that conducting a risk assessment for my 46 suppliers would be a "walk in the park" but I am stuck and here is why.
First we have to get our definitions in order and its not clear what they mean by Supplier. Is the supplier the person I source my ingredients from because if this is the case then by extension some are traditional manufacturers or vendors like my sugar supplier ( they manufacture sugar and sell to my site) , others are distributors like my dough conditioner supplier ( they buy from a manufacturer and sells to my site) and others are type 2 manufacturers like my spice supplier or canola oil supplier who buys these items in bulk from a primary manufacturer then repackages them ( oil) or grinds , blends and repackage them ( spices) and sells to my site.
For a genuine manufacturer GFSI visibility as the instrument for approval makes a lot of sense however for genuine distributors distribution HACCP makes more sense albeit few have this level of certification. Similarly for a basic distributor with no QA core competency I am not sure what would be acceptable as the instrument for approval.
I have to do an ingredient risk assessment and a comparable ingredient risk assessment and the rationale I am using is that if I rank black pepper as a medium risk and I have 2 suppliers one that is GFSI and the other that has no system at all the latter would be NLR ( not low risk)
If I take another approach and assume supplier means the vendor or where the ingredient is prepared ( not grounded or blended , repackaged) the task is easier.
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Hi Clement,
See the Glossary -
Supplier - The person, firm, company or other entity to which a site’s purchase order to supply is addressed.
Regarding Supplier / Ingredient Risk Assessment, you maybe need to further study the relevant BRC7 Clauses in the context of "Risk", eg Section 3.5. There are various threads here with examples of how to respond to the related Clauses, eg -
http://www.ifsqn.com...sment-template/