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    Home > Food News > Food Flavorings News > Difficulties in Food Supplier Audit from the "Tuken Sauerkraut" Incident at the 3.15 Party

    Difficulties in Food Supplier Audit from the "Tuken Sauerkraut" Incident at the 3.15 Party

    • Last Update: 2022-04-20
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    background
     
    This year's 3.
    15 party revealed that the pickled sauerkraut in Laotan was actually "pickled in soil"
    .
    Some of the workers wore slippers or even stepped on the sauerkraut with bare feet, while others worked while smoking, throwing the cigarette butts directly on the sauerkraut
    .
    When these sauerkraut was acquired by the flag-raising vegetable industry, the flag-flagging vegetable industry did not test the hygiene indicators
    .
    The person in charge of Tantan Qiao Food Co.
    , Ltd.
    , another exposed sauerkraut enterprise, clearly stated that "the preservatives in the sauerkraut we are making now exceed the standard, and in summer, it usually exceeds 2-10 times
    .
    " These sauerkraut will be supplied to many well-known enterprises to process sauerkraut products, and also process Laotan sauerkraut buns for some well-known instant noodle companies
    .
     
    Several well-known domestic companies were involved in the incident
    .
    Their regulations on supplier audits and product audits are very sound, and the audit frequency and requirements are strict, but why do such problems still occur
    .
    This has exposed many difficult problems in our audit.
    The following editor uses the "Tuken Pickled Cabbage" incident to talk about the difficulties in auditing related suppliers
    .
     
    products information

      product category
     
      Laotan sauerkraut belongs to the vegetable product sauce pickles unit in the production license
     
      Basic production process
     
      Pretreatment of raw and auxiliary materials → pickling (salting, candy, sauce, etc.
    ) → finishing (washing, drying, pressing, seasoning, fermentation, after-cooking) → filling → sterilization (or not sterilization) → packaging
    .

     
      Common food safety issues
     
      1.
    Food additives are out of range or used in excess
    .
     
      The main food additives added are preservatives, such as: sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite, potassium sorbate, sodium dehydroacetate, etc.
    In order to prolong the shelf life of sauerkraut, especially in summer, illegal manufacturers may add excessive preservatives, or even overuse them.
    range of food additives
    .
     
      2.
    Excessive nitrite
    .
     
      Pickled sauerkraut produces some nitrites
    .
    If the pickling time is not suitable, the lactic acid bacteria cannot inhibit the bacterial activity, and the bacteria will decompose the nitrate contained in the vegetables into a large amount of nitrite, so that the nitrite in the sauerkraut exceeds the standard
    .

     
      3.
    The microbial indicators exceed the standard
    .
     
      The main reason is that the hygienic operation in the production process is not standardized, which leads to the reproduction of microorganisms, especially the sterilization temperature and sterilization time, as well as the cleaning and sterilization of packaging containers
    .
     
      Audit Difficulty Analysis
     
      Conventional food safety hazards have been focused on when we audit suppliers, and they can generally be discovered and avoided during on-site audits
    .
     
      However, there are still some problems that we tend to ignore.
    For example, this time, the supplier of pickled cabbage purchased semi-finished products in soil pits to pretend to be their own products, and they did not conduct on-site control and product testing on the source supplier
    .
     
      In fact, most of what we see when we go to the supplier audit is what the supplier wants us to see
    .
    There are some non-compliant issues that suppliers deliberately conceal and we need to use auditing techniques to uncover them
    .

     
      Cooperation prerequisites
     
      The cooperation between enterprises and suppliers should be based on honesty and win-win
    .
    Integrity, as the name implies, is honesty and trustworthiness, including the consistency of suppliers' commitments and behaviors in supply activities
    .
    This aspect of the audit cannot be quantified.
    It is necessary to comprehensively judge its quality management concept and cooperation attitude to ensure that its quality awareness and management concept are consistent with ours
    .
     
      The editor suggests that our auditors can plan an appropriate time during the audit, like the unannounced reporters at the 315 party, to understand the local reputation of suppliers
    .
    Through conversations with local residents, learn about local folk customs, raw materials and other information
    .
    During the period, you may learn about the little-known side of the supplier, which involves the information of our audit content, which we need to focus on when auditing
    .
     
      Supplier product outsourcing problem

      1.
    Ask about production capacity
     
      For the possibility of outsourcing the product, we can ask about its production capacity when reviewing
    .
     
      If there is a large gap between its production capacity and the actual processing data recorded, we need to pay attention to raw material input and output
    .
    First calculate the theoretical product output based on the amount of raw materials, and then compare the actual product output to see the gap between the two
    .
    This involves the calculation of the material balance
    .
     
      At the same time, check the actual production records
    .
    If there is a big gap between the two data, and the supplier cannot give a reasonable explanation, it indicates that the product is likely to be outsourced
    .

     
      Furthermore, we went to the raw material warehouse and the finished product warehouse to audit and found that the actual inventory is very low, because pickled cabbage is a long-term work, and the inventory of raw materials and finished products is very low, we must consider whether there is a possibility of outsourcing
    .
     
      2.
    Trace material balance
     
      We can judge the material balance of the entire production process according to the retrospective audit, and trace forward and backward according to the process flow chart, for example:
     
      Chasing: incoming acceptance of raw and auxiliary materials - ingredients - production process - inspection - finished product storage - delivery;
     
      Anti-chasing: inventory finished products - inspection - production process - ingredients - raw and auxiliary materials incoming acceptance - supplier management
    .
     
      Regardless of the traceability method used, we must pay attention to whether the quantities in the process match, be vigilant about clean records and signatures in the same handwriting, carefully check the operations and behaviors on site, and ask more direct questions to the production line operators, which helps to be more accurate to obtain the actual situation of the production site
    .
     
      3.
    Audit of key raw material source suppliers
     
      When we audit, due to limited manpower and energy, or the actual situation does not allow, the audit of the supplier's source supplier is often ignored
    .
    Especially for enterprises whose raw materials are fresh fruits and vegetables, since fresh fruits and vegetables are non-standard products, and there are multiple retail households supplying them, the management and control efforts are relatively weak
    .
    This requires us to strengthen the on-site audit and direct evaluation of the source suppliers of key raw materials
    .
     
      For general raw materials, we can indirectly audit the supplier's supplier management and review the traceability information of its raw materials, so as to find out the supplier's deficiencies and hidden risks in the supplier's management
    .
    Or we can directly inspect the products purchased by the supplier
    .

     
      postscript
     
      The "Tuken Pickled Cabbage" incident exposed at the 3.
    15 party this time reflects the difficulties in supplier auditing and the insufficiency of some companies' supplier auditing work, as well as the importance of supplier auditing
    .
     
      background
     background
     
      This year's 3.
    15 party revealed that the pickled sauerkraut in Laotan was actually "pickled in soil"
    .
    Some of the workers wore slippers or even stepped on the sauerkraut with bare feet, while others worked while smoking, throwing the cigarette butts directly on the sauerkraut
    .
    When these sauerkraut was acquired by the flag-raising vegetable industry, the flag-flagging vegetable industry did not test the hygiene indicators
    .
    The person in charge of Tantan Qiao Food Co.
    , Ltd.
    , another exposed sauerkraut enterprise, clearly stated that "the preservatives in the sauerkraut we are making now exceed the standard, and in summer, it usually exceeds 2-10 times
    .
    " These sauerkraut will be supplied to many well-known enterprises to process sauerkraut products, and also process Laotan sauerkraut buns for some well-known instant noodle companies
    .
    Pickled sauerkraut food
     
      Several well-known domestic companies were involved in the incident
    .
    Their regulations on supplier audits and product audits are very sound, and the audit frequency and requirements are strict, but why do such problems still occur
    .
    This has exposed many difficult problems in our audit.
    The following editor uses the "Tuken Pickled Cabbage" incident to talk about the difficulties in auditing related suppliers
    .
    event audit
     
      products information
    products information

      product category
      product category
     
      Laotan sauerkraut belongs to the vegetable product sauce pickles unit in the production license
     
      Basic production process
    Basic production process
     
      Pretreatment of raw and auxiliary materials → pickling (salting, candy, sauce, etc.
    ) → finishing (washing, drying, pressing, seasoning, fermentation, after-cooking) → filling → sterilization (or not sterilization) → packaging
    .

     
      Common food safety issues
     Common food safety issues
     
      1.
    Food additives are out of range or used in excess
    .

     
      The main food additives added are preservatives, such as: sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite, potassium sorbate, sodium dehydroacetate, etc.
    In order to prolong the shelf life of sauerkraut, especially in summer, illegal manufacturers may add excessive preservatives, or even overuse them.
    range of food additives
    .

     
      2.
    Excessive nitrite
    .
     
      Pickled sauerkraut produces some nitrites
    .
    If the pickling time is not suitable, the lactic acid bacteria cannot inhibit the bacterial activity, and the bacteria will decompose the nitrate contained in the vegetables into a large amount of nitrite, so that the nitrite in the sauerkraut exceeds the standard
    .

     
      3.
    The microbial indicators exceed the standard
    .
     
      The main reason is that the hygienic operation in the production process is not standardized, which leads to the reproduction of microorganisms, especially the sterilization temperature and sterilization time, as well as the cleaning and sterilization of packaging containers
    .
     
      Audit Difficulty Analysis
     Audit Difficulty Analysis
     
      Conventional food safety hazards have been focused on when we audit suppliers, and they can generally be discovered and avoided during on-site audits
    .
     
      However, there are still some problems that we tend to ignore.
    For example, this time, the supplier of pickled cabbage purchased semi-finished products in soil pits to pretend to be their own products, and they did not conduct on-site control and product testing on the source supplier
    .
     
      In fact, most of what we see when we go to the supplier audit is what the supplier wants us to see
    .
    There are some non-compliant issues that suppliers deliberately conceal and we need to use auditing techniques to uncover them
    .

     
      Cooperation prerequisites
      Cooperation prerequisites
     
      The cooperation between enterprises and suppliers should be based on honesty and win-win
    .
    Integrity, as the name implies, is honesty and trustworthiness, including the consistency of suppliers' commitments and behaviors in supply activities
    .
    This aspect of the audit cannot be quantified.
    It is necessary to comprehensively judge its quality management concept and cooperation attitude to ensure that its quality awareness and management concept are consistent with ours
    .
     
      The editor suggests that our auditors can plan an appropriate time during the audit, like the unannounced reporters at the 315 party, to understand the local reputation of suppliers
    .
    Through conversations with local residents, learn about local folk customs, raw materials and other information
    .
    During the period, you may learn about the little-known side of the supplier, which involves the information of our audit content, which we need to focus on when auditing
    .
     
      Supplier product outsourcing problem
     Supplier product outsourcing problem

      1.
    Ask about production capacity
      1.
    Ask about production capacity
     
      For the possibility of outsourcing the product, we can ask about its production capacity when reviewing
    .
     
      If there is a large gap between its production capacity and the actual processing data recorded, we need to pay attention to raw material input and output
    .
    First calculate the theoretical product output based on the amount of raw materials, and then compare the actual product output to see the gap between the two
    .
    This involves the calculation of the material balance
    .
     
      At the same time, check the actual production records
    .
    If there is a big gap between the two data, and the supplier cannot give a reasonable explanation, it indicates that the product is likely to be outsourced
    .

     
      Furthermore, we went to the raw material warehouse and the finished product warehouse to audit and found that the actual inventory is very low, because pickled cabbage is a long-term work, and the inventory of raw materials and finished products is very low, we must consider whether there is a possibility of outsourcing
    .
     
      2.
    Trace material balance
     2.
    Trace material balance
     
      We can judge the material balance of the entire production process according to the retrospective audit, and trace forward and backward according to the process flow chart, for example:
     
      Chasing: incoming acceptance of raw and auxiliary materials - ingredients - production process - inspection - finished product storage - delivery;
     
      Anti-chasing: inventory finished products - inspection - production process - ingredients - raw and auxiliary materials incoming acceptance - supplier management
    .
     
      Regardless of the traceability method used, we must pay attention to whether the quantities in the process match, be vigilant about clean records and signatures in the same handwriting, carefully check the operations and behaviors on site, and ask more direct questions to the production line operators, which helps to be more accurate to obtain the actual situation of the production site
    .
     
      3.
    Audit of key raw material source suppliers
     3.
    Audit of key raw material source suppliers
     
      When we audit, due to limited manpower and energy, or the actual situation does not allow, the audit of the supplier's source supplier is often ignored
    .
    Especially for enterprises whose raw materials are fresh fruits and vegetables, since fresh fruits and vegetables are non-standard products, and there are multiple retail households supplying them, the management and control efforts are relatively weak
    .
    This requires us to strengthen the on-site audit and direct evaluation of the source suppliers of key raw materials
    .
     
      For general raw materials, we can indirectly audit the supplier's supplier management and review the traceability information of its raw materials, so as to find out the supplier's deficiencies and hidden risks in the supplier's management
    .
    Or we can directly inspect the products purchased by the supplier
    .

     
      postscript
    postscript
     
      The "Tuken Pickled Cabbage" incident exposed at the 3.
    15 party this time reflects the difficulties in supplier auditing and the insufficiency of some companies' supplier auditing work, as well as the importance of supplier auditing
    .
     

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