10 replies to this topic

[kconf]

Hi all,

What if an ingredient is bought online like amazon and there is no COA available? For example, salt is used in one of our recipes but I do not have a COA for it. It was brought to my attention when traceability exercised was being done. The ingredient percentage is less than half a percent in formula.  

[TimG]

GRAS statements, typically. That just covers the COA, not the traceability issue.

[TimG]

GRAS statements, typically. That just covers the COA, not the traceability issue.

Oh, this is probably table salt huh...

[jfrey123]

You can try reaching out to the actual manufacturer and see if they can provide you anything based on the lot code.  But that doesn't help from traceability like many others do.

 

But even though this ingredient is less than half a percent of the formula, the lack of traceability and control of the supplier remains an issue.  You don't know what poop-hole this Amazon vendor was keeping a tub of salt for you, whether it was handled with basic GMPs or a building with adequate pest control practices.  You don't know any of the process controls the salt manufacturer had in place to maintain purity.  Even if the salt is from one of "those major companies", you don't know whether a company faked the package to charge extra for distributing salt from a reputable label.  No reason to be buying ingredients from retail websites or stores, so I'd get with your procurement team or buyers and request a CAPA to make them understand and respect your approved supplier register.

[SQFconsultant]

jfrey123 said in part::   "You don't know what poop-hole this Amazon vendor was keeping a tub of salt for you,"...

 

When I worked as a 3rd party Auditor I went to some of those POOP HOLE places.

 

Two I remember very well, one was a SALT company - absolutely horrendous, failed the audit big time - but their excuse was... it's only SALT!!!

 

And the other was a SUGAR company, one of the biggest in the US - another POOPer with backhoes dripping hydraulic fluid onto multiple feet of cane sugar underneath their giant tires, dead rats (and a couple of live ones too) and general stuff in their product - excuse... but the vortex machine spins it out!

 

My Mom makes Christmas cookies each year and I remember leaving this facility and calling her to inquire what sugar she uses, when she said Dom!@#$ I thought should i tell her - I did, but have no idea if she actually followed the recommendation.

 

The cookies however were great that year.

[kconf]

Thank you, jfrey. 

 

We used to get it from an approved supplier. but a pallet would last us almost 2 years, so someone in the dept decided to buy a bag at a time. Anyway, this should not be the way to do it. 

[kconf]

Haha. I was hoping it was not ASR while reading but you disappointed me. 

[Scampi]

Maybe you could buy it by the bag from another facility in your area?   They would then have all the info you need AND you're not sitting on a skid of inventory????

[kconf]

I used amazon as an example. It was actually bought from a site called webstaurant. 

 

Would this make a difference? I don't know their standards either.  

[jfrey123]

You could try seeing if Webstaurant has a QA department that'll provide you the requirements of your program and add them as an approved supplier.  If any of your existing suppliers are distributors, you could see if they carry salt and are willing to see low quantities as attachments to your other orders. 

 

If you're US based, we have US Foods and Sysco locations on our Approved Supplier Registers for this reason, that sometimes we have to buy low quantities of items and generally there's a facility for one of these guys near one of our plants that we can use.  Sometimes we have to go physically pickup, but at least I have a distributor with a GFSI certified facility who will provide specs and info for the manufacturers.

[SHQuality]

If you can't get your salt from another source and the supplier doesn't provide a COA, you need to send a sample off for whatever testing is necessary yourself.

Personally, I'd try to order a few bags of salt from another supplier or a nearby manufacturer who has enough of the stuff.