3.5.3.1 Risk based approval and monitoring of service supplier
Hi,
How do you do to meet the requirement of the 3.5.3.1 clause of version 8 BRC?
The part I find tricky is the new section in version 8 :
" This approval and monitoring process shall be risk-based and take into consideration:
- risk to the safety and quality of products
- compliance with any specific legal requirements
- potential risks to the security of the product (i.e risks identified in the vulnerability and food defence assessments). "
How do you measure the risk of each of your service supplier? How do you establish your supplier is a low, medium or high risk?
A grid ?
What criteria do you have that can be appropriate to all your different supplier?
The legal requirements I'm okay with it.
Thanks!
Hi S-S,
:welcome:
Welcome to the IFSQN forums.
I would use a grid to consider a combination of the supplier/service risk x the potential risk to product safety/quality, legal, security during the activity conducted by the supplier using numbers or traffic lights.
You can gauge your supplier approval based on BRC Guidance: Approval may include a combination of the following:
• membership of a recognised trade association which specialises in the service provided (e.g. pest control)
• historical experience with the supplier
• legal registration (e.g. waste licences)
• third-party certification to a recognised standard (e.g. the BRC Global Standard for Storage and Distribution)
• evidence of training and competence in food safety.
Just like raw material approval you will also need to consider the risk associated with the activity. So let's say contract cleaning of food contact equipment in a high care area. There may be high risk of subsequent pathogen contamination of ready to eat product if the cleaning is not carried out correctly.
If the contracted cleaner is new without any assurances from the approval process you may consider the supplier/service to be high risk and the significance of the hazard (what could go wrong) a high risk. This would mean stringent monitoring procedures such as an ATP swab after cleaning, prior to the start of production.
Based on the supplier/service/risk you may have existing controls which mitigate low risk service risks and you may decide these are only monitored during GMP audits for example.
Kind regards,
Tony
Apologies for double posting, I forgot to add a sample.
In this example there are numbers and traffic lights:
Service Assessment Screen Shot 2019-03-28.png 258.68KB 10 downloads
Kind regards,
Tony
Hi S-S,
:welcome:
Welcome to the IFSQN forums.
I would use a grid to consider a combination of the supplier/service risk x the potential risk to product safety/quality, legal, security during the activity conducted by the supplier using numbers or traffic lights.
You can gauge your supplier approval based on BRC Guidance: Approval may include a combination of the following:
• membership of a recognised trade association which specialises in the service provided (e.g. pest control)
• historical experience with the supplier
• legal registration (e.g. waste licences)
• third-party certification to a recognised standard (e.g. the BRC Global Standard for Storage and Distribution)
• evidence of training and competence in food safety.
Just like raw material approval you will also need to consider the risk associated with the activity. So let's say contract cleaning of food contact equipment in a high care area. There may be high risk of subsequent pathogen contamination of ready to eat product if the cleaning is not carried out correctly.
If the contracted cleaner is new without any assurances from the approval process you may consider the supplier/service to be high risk and the significance of the hazard (what could go wrong) a high risk. This would mean stringent monitoring procedures such as an ATP swab after cleaning, prior to the start of production.
Based on the supplier/service/risk you may have existing controls which mitigate low risk service risks and you may decide these are only monitored during GMP audits for example.
Kind regards,
Tony
Tony,
I'm in need of an explanation regarding 3.5.3.2 - contracts or formal ingredients shall exist with suppliers of services.
Could this be something as simple as (for example, the company who calibrates our thermometers) the "agreement/contract" could be the certificate of calibration that states that NIST traceable reference was used and includes signatures from both parties? Contracts/agreements for laundry, pest control, laboratory, and transporters are in place. Thank you!
Hi Tony,
I find this topic very interesting. I have some concerns regarding supplier control measures. (I am referring to your example in xls). From your point of view are there any control activities different from the audit at the supplier?
Hi Tony,
I find this topic very interesting. I have some concerns regarding supplier control measures. (I am referring to your example in xls). From your point of view are there any control activities different from the audit at the supplier?
Hi Lino,
Example in xls ???
Hi Charles,
I mean the screen shot posted by Tony
Thank you
Hi Tony,
I find this topic very interesting. I have some concerns regarding supplier control measures. (I am referring to your example in xls). From your point of view are there any control activities different from the audit at the supplier?
Hi Lino,
Yes, as per post 2.
Kind regards,
Tony