The global nature of today’s supply chain requires the most stringent quality control

In 2015, the FDA published two final rules: Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP). These two regulations require supply chain partners to analyze the materials they are handling and hold each other accountable to ensure the safety of the feed products in our supply chain.

A product’s feed safety depends primarily on the quality of the product and suppliers feed safety processes. The wrong item entering a company’s supply chain can be severe, resulting in wasted resources, increased costs, and reputation damage. Having an adequately managed supplier approval program can help reduce these risks.

At dsm-firmenich Nutritional Products, the Material and Supplier Approval process can be broken down into 6 main components:

1.       Supplier Questionnaire

At the beginning of the supplier approval process, the dsm-firmenich Procurement team identifies the need for a specific ingredient and establishes where it can be sourced from. Once a potential supplier is identified the Procurement team will initiate the approval process by sending the supplier a brief questionnaire.

2.       Specification Management

dsm-firmenich Nutritionists take time to evaluate each and every ingredient specification to ensure the ingredients we receive in will meet, or exceed, our customers formula expectations.

3.       Supplier Assessment

To streamline the Supplier Approval Process the dsm-firmenich Quality group reviews each suppliers feed safety processes via two different methods:

a. We are able to accept any third-party food safety certificates which are recognized by FAMI-QS, such as ISO 22000 food safety certification, from our suppliers.

b. For any manufacturer who does not have an approved third-party certification, we require an in-depth Supplier Risk Assessment to be completed. This risk assessment allows the Quality group to determine the need to audit the supplier’s process in order to approve the ingredient and manufacturer as a supplier for dsm-firmenich.

4.       Auditing

dsm-firmenich has a global auditing network that is able to monitor and audit our suppliers around the globe as needed.

5.       Approval

Once a product and the suppliers feed safety practices have been reviewed, they can be approved as long as they have met dsm-firmenich’s ingredient specification and food safety requirements.  Upon approval, the product and supplier are added to our Approved Products List (APL).  The dsm-firmenich Quality group uses the APL for each ingredient shipment to ensure we have an approved ingredient from an approved source.

6.       Continued Supplier Performance Management

To ensure we consistently maintain the highest quality standards, we are able to continually monitor our suppliers in a variety of ways:

a. The Certificate of Analysis provided with each shipment is checked against the ingredient specification.

b. Ingredients are scanned on by NIR, which gives us an ingredient specific spectrum we can review for abnormalities such as foreign contamination.

c. We spot check materials we receive through certified third-party laboratories.

d. Any inquiries or ingredient deviations (such as color change or NIR Spectrum change) is documented and investigated prior to usage of the ingredients.

e. Lastly, we provide our suppliers with an annual performance report card.

To learn more about dsm-firmenich Nutritional Products Ingredient and Supplier Management processes, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Sales Account Manager.