Hello IFSQN,
I work in Food Safety at a chocolate manufacturing company in the United States. We recently completed a surveillance audit last month, and I am currently addressing a non-conformance under clause 3.5.1.2. This non-conformance was issued because we lack a completed supplier approval questionnaire for one of our packaging suppliers—and, in fact, we currently don’t have these questionnaires on file for any of our packaging suppliers.
Instead, we’ve been using product specifications and letters of guarantee from these suppliers as part of our approval process. My understanding has been that, in the U.S., most packaging suppliers do not typically hold GFSI-benchmarked certifications let alone maintain HACCP plans, along with some of the other documentation a supplier approval questionnaire would require. I’m finding it challenging to determine how to best resolve this non-conformance, particularly since most of our packaging suppliers likely do not meet the same approval criteria as our suppliers of raw materials.
Any insights would be helpful.