Online shopping popularity has been increasing every year, but COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated this trend.

Download the article, Packaging Considerations for E-Commerce learn more.

Originally published in Food in Canada.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumers’ view on packaging. There is less concern about sustainability and more on hygienic packaging.

Download the article, Food Packaging for a New Age, to learn more.

Originally published in Food in Canada.

With higher demand for certain products and potential supply chain disruptions, many retailers and manufacturers are turning to alternative/emergency suppliers. A few thoughts to remember when doing so:

1. Before introducing the product, complete a verification that it was produced using food safety practices and is from a reputable supplier. We recommend as minimum you collect and assess:

• Product specification
• Certificate of analysis
• Product sample for evaluations

For sites certified to GFSI standards, remember to check the guidance regarding the use of suppliers in emergency situations.

2. It is also critical right now to assess potential suppliers on their COVID-19 mitigation controls. Merely asking them if they’ve implemented controls is NOT enough. It’s important to ask pointed questions about physical distancing and personnel-related controls. This will help reduce the risk of further disruption due to closures or slowdowns.

3. After you’ve deemed the product suitable and introduced it into your supply chain, complete your full supplier verification activities including:

• Assessment of food safety controls at the supplier (by desk review or remote assessment for now*)
• Review of food safety audits from the past 12 months
• Completion of supplier questionnaires
• Risk rating of the supplier
• Increased frequency of material evaluation

*In a statement on March 17, the FDA announced it would not enforce on-site audit requirements if other appropriate verification activities are used instead… “Other supplier verification methods, such as sampling and testing or a review of food safety records, would be designed to provide sufficient assurance that hazards have been significantly minimized or prevented during the period of on-site audit delay.”

Author:Scott Arnald works as a supervisor on the consulting team at NSF providing services that help companies manage the food safety and quality of their supply chain. You can reach him at sarnald@nsf.org.

This post is one in a series on managing the quality and food safety of a supply chain as a manufacturer, restaurant brand or foodservice company.

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Learn more about NSF’s Supplier Management Services.

In the rise of specialized consumer products, the beverage industry is no exception. Consumers are expecting more out of beverages, including added health benefits and low to zero alcohol options. NSF’s Karen McEachern talks about the expected trends for 2020. 

Download the article, Examining Top Beverage Trends For the Coming Year, to learn more. 

Originally published on www.foodserviceandhospitality.com in January 2020. 

Certain PFAS chemicals are found in food packaging. Some PFAS have known human toxicity and tend to accumulate in the human body. As such, migration of PFAS from food packaging into food has raised concerns about the risk to human health.

Download the article, PFAS in Food Packaging to learn more.

Originally published in Food in Canada.

Life is all about taking risks, but not where food and drinks are concerned.

To teach food and beverage businesses about how to minimize risks, NSF hosted a half-day innovation breakfast at their Guelph, Ont.-based facility back on Oct. 17, 2019.

The purpose of the event was for attendees to gain insight, tools and techniques to strengthen their business and identify gaps and opportunities.

Download the article, The Wheels on the Bus to learn more.

Originally published in Canadian Packaging.

Food fraud may not be on the top of your mind when grocery shopping, but 10% of all commercially sold food products are affected by this issue. Industry leaders Katija Morley and Eva San-Sole tackle the tough topic of how to help prevent food fraud and ensure your favorite foods are being truthful in their ingredients. 

Download the article, Industry Leaders Take a Bite Out of Food Fraud, to learn more. 

Originally published in Better Farming, November 2019. 

Managing a food safety and quality supplier approval program (SAP) is a time-consuming activity as well as a necessary task. Companies need to have confidence their suppliers have effective programs in place to minimize the risk of introducing their product into their process or serving/selling the product to their consumers. To do this, each company sets a standard for what requirements its suppliers must meet, which generally results in a lengthy questionnaire and the submission of a big list of documents. Can you imagine how overwhelming this is for both sides? To ease the burden, here are a few tips from our experience working with our customers. 

If your company is asking for all this information from your suppliers, how is it managing all this data? Is there someone trained looking through the questionnaire and each of the documents requested? And what do you do with all this information? If you don’t know the answer for most of these questions, you might need to review and improve your SAP. 

Collect Information With Purpose

Collecting information and documentation from your suppliers because it is a requirement to comply with a third-party audit standard, the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) or the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is not enough. You need to know if you are looking for the right information and using it to manage your risk, because the main goal of this program is to assure that your suppliers are providing safe and suitable products to you.

A good way to start your SAP is to request the information that will assure you that your company is doing business with a supplier that can be trusted. To have this assurance, the requirements might change from company to company, according to the size of the company, type of supply chain (raw ingredients vs. processed ingredients, for example), complexity of the process, specifications of the final product and potential hazards that can contaminate the product. 

The list of food safety documents often requested include:

• Food safety and quality questionnaire
• Audit report and corrective actions
• Appropriate government registration, such as CFIA for Canadian companies and FDA and/or USDA for American companies
• Product specification sheets
• Certificate of analysis (COA)
• HACCP plan and flow diagram
• Appropriate state and/or municipal license
• Claims certification (such as organic, kosher, halal, gluten-free and others)

Risk Rank Suppliers & Reduce Requirements Over Time for Lower Risk Suppliers

All the information gathered should be used to identify the risk of each material purchased as well as the risk it presents based on how it is used in your company’s process. After completing a food fraud and risk assessment of your process and supply chain, you should have a list of high-, medium- and low-risk suppliers, and you can then re-evaluate what information you need from each of them. It is recommended that your company re-evaluates your supplier and material risks every year or every time your product specifications change, and when you change or add new suppliers. Ideally, the requirements list will be adapted to include fewer documents over time (for low-risk suppliers), saving you and your suppliers valuable time. 

Invest in Technology to Support You

Finally, depending how many suppliers you have, you might consider a data management system to manage the information in a central location. This can help you automate communication with suppliers and track expiry dates on time-sensitive documentation. Keep in mind that any data management system is not a solution on its own and a qualified person is still needed to review the information to flag any risk with suppliers or materials/ingredients.
 

Author: Marjorie Rodrigues is a Compliance Reviewer with the Supplier Management Services team at NSF providing outsourced services that help companies manage the food safety and quality of their supply chain. You can reach her at mrodrigues@nsf.org.

This post is one in a series on managing the quality and food safety of a supply chain as a manufacturer, restaurant brand or foodservice company.

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Learn more about NSF’s Supplier Management Services.

Strong controls regarding product complaints, product specifications and recipe adherence to the specifications can contribute to cost savings for your business. 

Managing product complaints and identifying trends allows for immediate visibility to act quickly before it’s too late. Serving poor quality food negatively impacts the guest experience and discourages them from re-visiting your restaurant. Serving unsafe food can cause product recalls and brand-damaging media attention. Identifying product and supplier trends based on a supplier scorecard will help your company make better business decisions for future purchases.

Having the correct specifications for products being served will allow your business to get supplier bids with the goal of receiving the best possible cost.

Take the opportunity to review your product specifications with a cost savings approach. For example, look for areas of product waste, whether the product is proprietary and necessary, whether barrier or non-barrier film is used, and if growing regions and types of processing equipment are limited. 

The product development and the quality teams should work together to ensure product specifications align with recipes. If the amount of product pieces in a case is not correct, this would impact the number of servings which contributes to waste. If you create products from scratch and you are not using all of the product in the case then you are creating waste.  Product specifications can be adjusted as needed which could contribute to cost savings.

NSF can manage your processes to help ensure product quality and safety are met which can contribute to a reduction in waste, resulting in cost savings.
 

Author: Betsy Kaesontae is the Manager for the Supplier Management Services team at NSF providing outsourced services that help companies manage the food safety and quality of their supply chain. You can reach her at bkaesontae@nsf.org

This post is one in a series on managing the quality and food safety of a supply chain as a manufacturer, restaurant brand or foodservice company.

Sign Up to receive the latest supplier management news.

Learn more about NSF’s Supplier Management Services.

Prime Minister Trudeau announced a ban on single-use plastics to come into effect as early as 2021. This ban intends to make plastic product manufacturers or companies using plastic packaging responsible for collection and recycling of plastic waste. The Government of Canada cited that about one-third of plastics used in Canada are for single-use or short-lived products and packaging, which includes up to 15 billion plastic bags used every year and close to 57 million straws used daily.

Download the article, Single-Use Plastics Ban: Issues & Challenges to learn more.

Originally published in Food in Canada.