9 replies to this topic

[airwreckarae]

I am new to the RSPO world and I have our first annual audit coming. The company hasn't had someone to take care of it so there is no one to explain to me what needs to be done with it what should have been done etc. We are mass balanced. Only one of our ingredients uses palm oil. (Sprinkles) Our supplier is RSPO certified and labeled. Any sprinkle used is RSPO and it goes into all of our finished products. What is there to balance? What comes in goes out. 0 balance. What are these calculations they keep referring to?  we have a constant running inventory. Should I be doing fixed accounting system or continuous? Is there anyone out there that can explain this like I'm a 5 year old please? It just doesn't make sense.

[SQFconsultant]

First question...

If this is 1 ingredient and your supplier is already RSPO certified why is your company seeking RSPO certification?

[Tony-C]

First question...

If this is 1 ingredient and your supplier is already RSPO certified why is your company seeking RSPO certification?

 

My thoughts exactly 

 

It just doesn't make sense.

[pHruit]

OP, if you haven't done so then start by downloading the latest RSPO certification standard from the RSPO site here and having a read through: https://rspo.org/resources/

There are similarities with food safety certification schemes, in that it expects you to have written procedures, records, training etc. If you are lucky you'll be able to find whatever your predecessor did on these and build from there, but even if not, the very narrow scope means it shouldn't take too long to create something from the ground up if you're used to writing procedures for other certification standards. I expect you'll need e.g.:
A procedure to ensure you purchase from an RSPO certified source, and for checking that this is the case.

Training to the purchasing (and possibly warehouse) teams to ensure they know what they're supposed to be buying/receiving, and obviously a written record of that training.

For the management review part I'd just add that as a brief section into your existing management review process.
Similarly for the internal audit element, I'd think this will be easy to cover as it's such a small area, so just get it added into your existing schedule.

 

I suspect the "calculations" are the reconciliation discussed in C.3.1 and C.3.2 in the standard. In your case these should be very easy as you're only using one ingredient with palm, so 100% of your materials are RSPO mass-balance certified (assuming you're buying from a certified supplier ). You'll just need to ensure this matches up with your company's accounting/invoicing as covered in section C.4, so I'd make sure to get people involved from that team - they're the ones who will be responsible for maintaining/providing a lot of the relevant records.

As you can imagine, these calculations become vastly more complex if you're buying multiple ingredients with palm derivatives, plus palm oils, some of it is RSPO mass-balance, some of it is RSPO segregated, some of it isn't certified at all etc...

For your situation IMO it really should be as simple showing that you bought e.g. 100kg of MB certified sprinkles in a 12 months period, and sold product which used 100kg in the same period.

 

 

First question...

If this is 1 ingredient and your supplier is already RSPO certified why is your company seeking RSPO certification?

 

RSPO is a bit like organic certification (without the formal regulatory requirements), in that each stage in the supply chain needs to be certified in order to maintain the "claim" around RSPO status and pass it on to the next stage. Lots of consumer-facing brands and retailers (at least here in the UK and Europe) want RSPO certification, which means every stage in the supply chain prior to them has to be certified.

[airwreckarae]

First question...

If this is 1 ingredient and your supplier is already RSPO certified why is your company seeking RSPO certification?

Because our customer wants us to have it. They will no longer purchase from us if we do not show certification for our company. 

[airwreckarae]

OP, if you haven't done so then start by downloading the latest RSPO certification standard from the RSPO site here and having a read through: https://rspo.org/resources/

There are similarities with food safety certification schemes, in that it expects you to have written procedures, records, training etc. If you are lucky you'll be able to find whatever your predecessor did on these and build from there, but even if not, the very narrow scope means it shouldn't take too long to create something from the ground up if you're used to writing procedures for other certification standards. I expect you'll need e.g.:
A procedure to ensure you purchase from an RSPO certified source, and for checking that this is the case.

Training to the purchasing (and possibly warehouse) teams to ensure they know what they're supposed to be buying/receiving, and obviously a written record of that training.

For the management review part I'd just add that as a brief section into your existing management review process.
Similarly for the internal audit element, I'd think this will be easy to cover as it's such a small area, so just get it added into your existing schedule.

 

I suspect the "calculations" are the reconciliation discussed in C.3.1 and C.3.2 in the standard. In your case these should be very easy as you're only using one ingredient with palm, so 100% of your materials are RSPO mass-balance certified (assuming you're buying from a certified supplier ). You'll just need to ensure this matches up with your company's accounting/invoicing as covered in section C.4, so I'd make sure to get people involved from that team - they're the ones who will be responsible for maintaining/providing a lot of the relevant records.

As you can imagine, these calculations become vastly more complex if you're buying multiple ingredients with palm derivatives, plus palm oils, some of it is RSPO mass-balance, some of it is RSPO segregated, some of it isn't certified at all etc...

For your situation IMO it really should be as simple showing that you bought e.g. 100kg of MB certified sprinkles in a 12 months period, and sold product which used 100kg in the same period.

 

 

 

RSPO is a bit like organic certification (without the formal regulatory requirements), in that each stage in the supply chain needs to be certified in order to maintain the "claim" around RSPO status and pass it on to the next stage. Lots of consumer-facing brands and retailers (at least here in the UK and Europe) want RSPO certification, which means every stage in the supply chain prior to them has to be certified.

This is very very helpful thank you. I have the standard and have been reading it but I feel like it doesn't explain the details of what they are looking for. I need to get better at reading "legalease". 

I assumed it would be that simple to show I bought this much I produced using that same amount in the same period. 0 balance. I tend to way over complicate things I don't immediately understand.

[Tony-C]

Because our customer wants us to have it. They will no longer purchase from us if we do not show certification for our company. 

 

This is very very helpful thank you. I have the standard and have been reading it but I feel like it doesn't explain the details of what they are looking for. I need to get better at reading "legalease". 

I assumed it would be that simple to show I bought this much I produced using that same amount in the same period. 0 balance. I tend to way over complicate things I don't immediately understand.

 

Hi airwreckarae,

 

That makes more sense now, although I hope that your company is compensated for this inconvenience. I would have thought a supplier certification and certification to a GFSI benchmarked standard would be sufficient, especially if you are only sourcing and using this ingredient from one supplier.

 

A mass balance exercise follows through from ingredients to finished product. It is almost impossible to get 100% raw material into finished product due to wastage along the process.

 

For example, you may start with say 100kg of palm oil but based on the recipe may end up with 95kg in the final product. By doing this regularly you will get an idea of what typical wastage is and regard this as the norm. You should then investigate any significant variations, say +/- 3%.

 

With assured products the idea is also to show that you had enough raw material to make the amount of finished product produced in that batch and your paperwork traces the ingredient and amount throughout your process.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[airwreckarae]

Hi airwreckarae,

 

That makes more sense now, although I hope that your company is compensated for this inconvenience. I would have thought a supplier certification and certification to a GFSI benchmarked standard would be sufficient, especially if you are only sourcing and using this ingredient from one supplier.

 

A mass balance exercise follows through from ingredients to finished product. It is almost impossible to get 100% raw material into finished product due to wastage along the process.

 

For example, you may start with say 100kg of palm oil but based on the recipe may end up with 95kg in the final product. By doing this regularly you will get an idea of what typical wastage is and regard this as the norm. You should then investigate any significant variations, say +/- 3%.

 

With assured products the idea is also to show that you had enough raw material to make the amount of finished product produced in that batch and your paperwork traces the ingredient and amount throughout your process.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

For us its sprinkles. What we receive in we use, unless there is a non conformity. So for example, we get in 2016 pounds. In our batches for the mini muffins we use 210lbs, 330lbs, 420lbs, 300lbs, 270lbs, 486lbs for that lot number. It balanced out to 0. (2016-210-330-420-300-270-486=0) Is that right or do I need to break it down by the amount of palm oil in the sprinkles? Say there is a non conformity and we had to waste 50lbs. What do I do there? End with a negative number? 

[Tony-C]

For us its sprinkles. What we receive in we use, unless there is a non conformity. So for example, we get in 2016 pounds. In our batches for the mini muffins we use 210lbs, 330lbs, 420lbs, 300lbs, 270lbs, 486lbs for that lot number. It balanced out to 0. (2016-210-330-420-300-270-486=0) Is that right or do I need to break it down by the amount of palm oil in the sprinkles? Say there is a non conformity and we had to waste 50lbs. What do I do there? End with a negative number? 

 

Hi airwreckarae,

 

What you are describing is a mass balance of a raw material used, this is necessary as well.

 

A mass balance through your process would take the weight of final product so let’s say 10,000lbs (1lb x 10,000 units), multiple it by the recipe % of palm oil, so let’s say 1% and then you have the weight of palm oil in the product you have produced. 1% of 10,000lbs is 100lbs. You compare this with the amount used in the batch.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[airwreckarae]

Hi airwreckarae,

 

What you are describing is a mass balance of a raw material used, this is necessary as well.

 

A mass balance through your process would take the weight of final product so let’s say 10,000lbs (1lb x 10,000 units), multiple it by the recipe % of palm oil, so let’s say 1% and then you have the weight of palm oil in the product you have produced. 1% of 10,000lbs is 100lbs. You compare this with the amount used in the batch.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

Tony, I can't thank you enough for this explanation. I think I am on the right path now. I should have asked for help much sooner. Sometimes teaching yourself doesn't always go as planned. I wasted a lot of time. Much appreciation. =)