Hello,
I work at a small ice cream chain that has begun selling their product wholesale, which of course opens us up to FDA inspections and has us reevaluating our food safety plan. We are now requiring COAs for every ingredient that we bring into the store that doesn't have some sort of kill step post-delivery. However, some of our biggest and most important ingredients have been very difficult and claim they don't supply COAs. Some examples include Oreos, Cereals such as cinnamon toast crunch, and salty caramel bases. What I am asking is how should I approach this situation? Is there any reason as to why these ingredients might be an exception and not require a COA to use in production? Is there any other documentation that these companies might provide that would suffice? Our 3 most popular flavors require Oreos so we are very dependent on using them as an ingredient, but our top priority is food safety so this has really put us between a rock and a hard place, any assistance or direction would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
-Brian P.