Food and beverage
Supplier certificates in the food sector
Collect data sheets, allergen info and certifications from every supplier, with expiry alerts.
A food business with seventy product lines holds, for every supplier, a technical data sheet, an allergen declaration, a certificate for whichever standard applies and often a certificate of origin. That is hundreds of documents with different review dates, and the auditor asks for all of them on the same day.
What to ask a food supplier for
| Document | How often | Why it is asked for |
|---|---|---|
| Product technical data sheet | At onboarding and on every reformulation | It is the basis of your own sheet and of the label |
| Allergen declaration | At onboarding and on every change | Direct liability: an undeclared allergen is a serious incident |
| Standard certification (IFS, BRC, ISO 22000) | Annually | Your own audit asks for it, not just your client |
| Certificate of origin or health certificate | Per batch or per season | Mandatory on imports and for some products |
| Food business registration | At onboarding | Without it the supplier should not be approved at all |
The real problem is not asking: it is expiry
Almost everyone manages to gather the paperwork at onboarding. What fails is year two: the supplier's IFS certificate expired in March, nobody looked, and the finding turns up in the October audit. With an expiry date on the document, the alert fires on its own and the renewal is requested before there is a gap.
Worth knowing
If automatic reading pulls the validity date off the certificate itself, nobody has to type it in — which is exactly where the error creeps in that nobody later spots.
What the auditor takes away
In a food safety audit what counts is not only holding the document: it is demonstrating there was a system. One file per supplier, with the date each document was requested, the date it arrived and the renewal alert on record, answers that question better than a folder full of PDFs.
Frequently asked questions
›Can I ask for different documents by supplier type?
Yes: one process per type. A raw material supplier is not asked the same things as a packaging supplier or a haulier.
›How do I keep allergens under control when a formulation changes?
The allergen declaration is requested at onboarding and on every change. Because each is dated, you can see which version was current when each batch was produced.
›Does it help prepare an IFS or BRC audit?
That is one of the main uses. You export the dossier with the evidence and its dates, instead of compiling for days.
›What about temperature or cleaning records?
Those are not requested from anyone: you generate them. They fit better as certified evidence, so they carry a demonstrable date.
A real case
The situation
A manufacturer is audited to IFS and is asked for the current certificate of twelve raw material suppliers.
What you do
- Filters the raw material supplier files
- Confirms none has an expired certificate, because the alerts fired when they were due
- Exports the dossier with the twelve pieces of evidence and their dates
What you get
It is handed over on the spot, and the auditor can independently verify the date of every document.
The situation
A technical sheet expires and nobody notices until the audit.
What you do
- Records each document's validity on receipt
What you get
The warning arrives before the auditor.
The situation
Each supplier sends the sheet in a different format.
What you do
- Requests specific documents to a single destination
What you get
What is received can be compared.
The situation
An allergen changes and nobody reviews the labels.
What you do
- Asks the supplier to communicate any change
What you get
The change arrives before the problem.
The situation
Chasing sixty suppliers takes a morning a week.
What you do
- Requests and chases automatically
What you get
The morning is recovered and the sheets still arrive.
The situation
An audit asks you to evidence ten suppliers.
What you do
- Checks each one's file
What you get
The handover is prepared in minutes.
This article answers
- how to collect certificates from food suppliers
- supplier document control IFS BRC
- managing technical data sheets and allergens
- documentation for a food safety audit
- expired supplier certificates