We are a food/beverage comanufacturer in the US and looking to become BRCGS certificated for our beverage division.
I am looking to gauge what is normal for food safety & shipping documentation for food contact packaging components for canned beverages (i.e. aluminum cans and can ends).
We have found that some prospective customers are sourcing packaging materials that may be shuffled around (ex. from Manufacturer to Distributor/warehouse) where the manufacturer pallet tag is removed and may not have a pallet tag replaced when shipped forward. It's my understanding that the paperwork that would be sent may not have lot numbers listed, but rather just a generic description (ex. cans, can ends) and quantity sent.
If shipped from manufacturer, pallet tags may or may not be present and/or may not have full lot info. If pallet tags are present, the assumption would be they would have traceable info we could gather.
Another issue is lack of COCs or COAs and/or detailed packing slips with traceability information. This means that if a distributor or other warehouse sends a pallet unlabeled and no details other than cans/can ends on the BO, there is no way to know the brand of cans/ends being sent.
Brands and customers have suggested these and/or detailed packing slips with lot numbers are not requested by other comanufactuers or very infrequently. I find this strange given the FDA and BRC/food safety requirements to ensure traceability for food contact packaging.
The manufacturers we are dealing with are the major common can & end brands. We don’t experience these issues with other food contact packaging components within our other divisions (i.e. rigid or flexible packaging for dry products).
I am hoping to gather input from the community here regarding documentation you require for inbound shipments of packaging items that come in contact with food/beverage product.
What have you experienced? Have you found similar challenges? What are your documentation requirements? What process do you use to ensure traceability? (Require specific information from the supplier or create your own internal process that is independent of the supplier)?
It seems that some of the major beverage packaging brands struggle with documentation that is commonplace and routinely provided for ingredients.
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