Hi Dorothy,
I am assuming that you are a working for a food manufacturer.
If your agent/broker is certified to BRCGS Global Standard for Agents and Brokers Issue 3 then supplier approval and traceability has been covered by them but that doesn’t help you meet BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety Issue 9 requirements which are relevant here:
3.5.1.5 Where raw materials (including primary packaging) are purchased from companies that are not the manufacturer, packer or consolidator (e.g. purchased from an agent, broker or wholesaler), the site shall know the identity of the last manufacturer or packer, or for bulk commodity products the consolidation place of the raw material.
Information to enable the approval of the manufacturer, packer or consolidator, as in clauses 3.5.1.1 and 3.5.1.2, shall be obtained from the agent/broker or directly from the supplier, unless the agent/broker is themselves certificated to a BRCGS Standard (e.g. Global Standard Agents and Brokers) or a standard benchmarked by GFSI.
3.5.1.6 The company shall ensure that its suppliers of raw materials (including primary packaging) have an effective traceability system. Where a supplier has been approved based on a questionnaire instead of 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.
Where the supplier is not the manufacturer, packer or consolidator of the raw material (e.g. purchased from an agent, broker or wholesaler) and approval is based on a questionnaire instead of certification or audit, the verification of the traceability system shall be carried out on the last manufacturer, packer or consolidator of the raw material.
Where a raw material is received directly from a farm or fish farm, further verification of the farm’s traceability system is not mandatory.
I agree with most of pHruit’s post but would also like to point out that the agent/broker is not in compliance with the requirements of BRCGS Global Standard for Agents and Brokers Issue 3:
3.4 Customer focus and communication
3.4.3 Where required by the customer, the company shall provide information to enable the last manufacturer or processor of the product to be approved. This shall include the identity of this manufacturer or processor.
Maybe you should point this out to the agent/broker and if they don’t respond appropriately take it up with BRCGS.
Kind regards,
Tony