Kellerman Consulting’s third episode of the Supplier Approval Program video series, reviews the regulatory requirements a facility has if they are a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facility or a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) – Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) facility.
It is important to note that food packaging facilities are not regulated by the FDA or FSIS and may not be subject to supply chain controls unless they voluntarily participate in a third-party certification program such as an ISO 9001 quality management system or one of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) schemes we will be discussing in episode 7.
Regardless of what type of facility we are discussing, the supplier assessments shall be completed and the supplier will be added to the supplier approval list as described in Episode #1
Additionally, a review of the food and food packaging safety requirements applicable to the facility shall be conducted to ensure the supplier approval program will be deemed sufficient during regulatory or certification inspections.
As we look at FSIS regulated facilities, those processing meat, pork, poultry, and other FSIS regulated items, supplier approval is a prerequisite safety program, and the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program fulfills all supplier approval requirements.
Any facility required to operate under the Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA, is required to include supply chain preventive controls. These facilities include non-meat food facilities inspected by the FDA and facilities inspected by a state or local agency acting on behalf of the FDA.
The basis of every facility’s supply chain preventive controls program is to have a process in place to assess suppliers and maintain a registry of all approved or rejected suppliers. The next step is to identify controls applied by the supplier, especially those applied to high risk products that will not be controlled at a later step. Any supply chain preventive controls should be noted in your approved supplier registry.
In our next episode of the Supplier Approval series, we address Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers.
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