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[ssarvos@hotmail.com]

I represent a tea company who manufactures and sells various tea products (latte, tea, honey latte, matcha, etc.) as well as RTE (ready to eat) products. Our RTE products consist of matcha and powdered tea as well as powdered supplements such as probiotics and fibre. I prefer to receive a CoA with every ingredient ordered however, some suppliers do not provide a CoA while others do but only test for salmonella with certain batches. I would prefer if every RTE ingredient had supporting documentation for a negative salmonella test however, this is not the case. Some of these suppliers are extremely reputable, provide product specifications stating that the product will test salmonella negative, and have not had any recent recalls within the industry. Should I perform a salmonella test on each ingredient prior to use or would it be sufficient to perform a risk assessment and establish the ingredient as low risk due to the supplier reasons previously stated as well as internal processing controls, prerequisite programs, HACCP program, and BRC certification status?

[GMO]

Your suppliers are the expert on the ingredients they produce.  I think whether Salmonella is a risk will come from them.  So what I'd ask for is evidence from their HACCP on how they've determined the risk on Salmonella and, hence, their testing frequency.

 

It's a super valid thing to ask for though.  While it might feel a bit baffling to some that you're asking for Salmonella testing on a dry powder, I bet you some people will be reconstituting without heat into smoothies etc where there will be really good potential for growth.  Worth making your suppliers aware about what you've assessed as potential consumer use (or misuse) as they may not be considering that well enough in their process.