BRC Clause 3.7.5 - Effective Traceability System

Can anyone please provide what their company is doing to ensure suppliers of raw materials have an effective traceability system? How are you performing traceability tests on your suppliers? Clause 3.7.5 reads: "The company shall ensure that its suppliers of raw materials have an effective traceability system. Where a supplier has been approved based on a questionnaire instead of a certification or audit, verification of the supplier's traceability system shall be carried out on first approval and then at least every 3 years. This may be achieved by a traceability test."

Can anyone please provide what their company is doing to ensure suppliers of raw materials have an effective traceability system? How are you performing traceability tests on your suppliers?

Each of our supplier audit checklists includes items for checking their traceability procedure and test. We carry out the test in the same manner that BRC auditors and customers do to us.

One more thing is that our auditors have to study the manufacturing processes of suppliers, e.g. ink production, plastic film extrusion. Otherwise, we have poor background to evaluate their system and the test. 

BTW, you can attend to SQA (supplier quality assurance) courses and get certified. Showing such certificates could prove the competence of supplier auditors in case that a BRC Auditor asks.