Approved Supplier Program - Spot Purchasing
I work currently in confectionary/chocolate manufacturing for a small company. We are a private label company currently and are working through product development to launch our own brand, with a current SQF Certification. Our procurement efforts lead us down a path where we have to spot purchase inclusion and topping ingredients due to minimum order quantities (MOQ), think candy, cookies, sprinkles, etc. Where I am struggling is with the approved supplier program as online retailers and suppliers are being used, that do not have relative documentation other than general specs, with no food safety certificate, etc. I've been creating internal specs and referencing FDA hazards as the main focus, however want to put this out to see what others have done or would do.
I've worked for larger manufacturers prior to this role so a new space to be in compliance wise as it was a GFSI Cert, GMP Audit, Food Safety Survey, and/or onsite audit otherwise we would not purchase. Full disclaimer that the top management has stated that there is no way around online spot purchasing as we wouldn't be able to afford the loss of bringing in large loads of materials from more reputable sources.
Any assistance, knowledge base, or guidance is greatly appreciated, many thanks!
2.3.4.4 The receipt of raw materials, ingredients, processing aids, and packaging from non-approved suppliers shall be acceptable only in an emergency situation and provided a receiving inspection or analysis is conducted and recorded before use.
Spot buys should only be reserved for emergency use per the SQF code. Doing these spot buys for those items leaves too many gaps and opportunities for production/management to run off book. "Hey, I found a deal on these weird toppings from this company we've never heard of! Let's just use them, who cares if the formulation is slightly different!"
If you're unable to meet order minimums direct from a manufacturer, a broker/distributor might be able to get you acceptable pricing at the rate you're able to buy. Our corporation frequently orders from Sysco/US Foods being our approved supplier, and we only ask them to give us the GFSI certs for their manufacturing companies. This fulfills our in-house requirement that manufacturers be GFSI certified and the distributor comply with our supplier approval requirements.
Thats a tough spot.
You are not able to get any food safety type documents from the manufacture? Food safety plan, LOG, etc? They have to have something in place to operate as a food manufacture. If they are not the acutall manufacture get doucuments from the actuall manufacture. Or even completion of a questionaire. The good thing about SQF is that they give you much leway when creating.
Ideas that MIGHT work.
1. If they are low risk, a basic document review of what they have. and / or questionaire. Frequent monitoring. Again they have to have something to manufacture food. If they dont you should not use them.
2. Get appropriate docs and audit them yourself - probably not realistic.
3. Treat them as an emergency supply. "receipt of raw materials, ingredients, processing aids, and packaging from non-approved suppliers shall be acceptable only in an emergency situation and provided a receiving inspection or analysis is conducted and recorded before use."
4. Procurment may need to try a little harder and get you the documents you need for an approved supplier program. If all your worried about is MOQ, your be better off buying at a restarunt supply, bussiness center, grocery store.
Probably not much help.
The most straightforward alternative to purchasing from a source that can provide all the preferred safety and quality documentation, is to perform the testing yourself on what you receive. That's not likely to be a money saving option.
This is essentially what is done for new vendors or R&D materials, you can't or don't trust what they tell you (nothing, in this case), so you test it.
Thats a tough spot.
You are not able to get any food safety type documents from the manufacture? Food safety plan, LOG, etc? They have to have something in place to operate as a food manufacture. If they are not the acutall manufacture get doucuments from the actuall manufacture. Or even completion of a questionaire. The good thing about SQF is that they give you much leway when creating.
Ideas that MIGHT work.
1. If they are low risk, a basic document review of what they have. and / or questionaire. Frequent monitoring. Again they have to have something to manufacture food. If they dont you should not use them.
2. Get appropriate docs and audit them yourself - probably not realistic.
3. Treat them as an emergency supply. "receipt of raw materials, ingredients, processing aids, and packaging from non-approved suppliers shall be acceptable only in an emergency situation and provided a receiving inspection or analysis is conducted and recorded before use."
4. Procurment may need to try a little harder and get you the documents you need for an approved supplier program. If all your worried about is MOQ, your be better off buying at a restarunt supply, bussiness center, grocery store.
Probably not much help.
We have been able to get a specification sheet for most items or I create one internally. LOG or FS Plans are generally not received, nor food safety certificate's. I have been lab testing the materials that I cannot officially assess via documentation and referencing the hazard analysis tables through FDA. I have been considering these materials to one off-spot emergency purchases for the sake of SQF Compliance. I have been stressing the fact the more reputable suppliers or distributors are used. Some of the one off materials are actually dictated by one of our major private label companies we manufacture for.
Its a fun place to be in for sure. Appreciate all the assistance!