Monitoring supply chain risks

Supply chain risks are evolving all the time. This is a brief overview of various sources of information about developing supply chain risks, and how it relates to your quality management system. The aim is to provide an introduction to a range of providers of risk information for better awareness and risk mitigation.

This list includes monitoring of suppliers, raw materials, and products. While products manufactured by other food companies might not seem directly relevant, food safety alerts for products in the same category or industry that you operate in can yield insights into raw material and process risks that can be applied directly to the risk profile of your own quality management system.

Supplier accreditation directories have been intentionally omitted to avoid repetition. All of the sources of risk information included here are also listed in the Useful Resources page.

Access to Nutrition Global Index
The Access to Nutrition Initiative ranks major food corporations in relation to their nutritional strategies. The assessments can contribute to supplier approval and ongoing performance monitoring as an indicator for ethical and sustainability concerns.

Mintec global Food Commodity Prices
Food fraud is often financially motivated, so the vulnerability of your raw materials to substitution, adulteration and fraud is variable according to the level of financial incentive at play. If the price of a food ingredient increases, there is a corresponding incentive to dilute the material with cheaper alternatives (bulk it out). Mintec allows you to track food commodity prices, so you can adjust your vulnerability assessment to reflect changing conditions.
  
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics
This tool allows you to search food commodities by production volumes, geographical location, and price. There can be practical motivations for food fraud, so if supply of a food is restricted then there is a corresponding incentive to substitute or dilute with available alternatives, for example. The FAOSTAT tool allows you to export the data into excel, so you can produce graphs to illustrate the supply of food commodities over time.
  
EC RASFF - The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed
Europe – This database acts as a communication tool for food safety alerts across Europe. The RASFF Window shows supply chain risks that apply to raw materials, and consumer portals are available from the same page.
  
EC Monthly Food Fraud Summary Reports
Regularly published summaries of food fraud incidents recorded in the EU. This resource gives an indication of vulnerability by food type and geographical location.
  
Food Recall Search
USA - The food recall reporter offered by the Food Industry Counsel is a searchable database of recalls that includes FDA and USDA recalls.
  
Food Safety Recalls and Outbreaks
USA - Real-time notices of recalls and alerts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
  
Food Standards Agency News and Alerts
UK - The FSA news and alerts page lists food safety and news announcements. The content is relevant to consumers and businesses alike.
  
Food Safety Authority of Ireland Food Allergen Alerts
Ireland - Specifically focussing on allergy alerts for consumer products, this page is a historical commentary on where allergen and labelling controls have failed. Awareness can give preventative insights.
  
Food Safety Authority of Ireland Food Safety Alerts
Ireland – Details about recalls and withdrawals for food safety reasons. The alerts are for consumer products.

Canadian Food Recall Alerts
All food recalls issued prior to November 1, 2021. Transitioning to the following recalls and safety alerts website.

Canadian Recalls, Advisories and Safety Alerts
A register for all Canadian recalls, advisories and safety alerts. Not limited to food products.
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Canadian Food Safety Bulletin
A monthly publication of the latest reports on food safety testing by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Awareness of emerging trends is crucial for risk management.
 

• Emergence of chemical and biological hazards should be influential on your raw material surveillance testing frequencies.

 

• Variation in factors affecting vulnerability to substitution, adulteration and fraud should be reflected in your raw material vulnerability assessment.

 

• Food safety alerts that apply to consumer products can be used to indicate systematic weaknesses that have applied to food manufacturers who handle similar materials, operate similar processes or exist in the same sector as your manufacturing facility.

 

• Food safety alerts that apply to raw materials/ingredients can be used to identify at-risk raw materials either directly handled at your manufacturing facility or sourced from the same geographical regions as materials handled at your facility.

 

• Goods intake inspections and analytical testing may need to be adjusted in light of emerging hazards. As risk factors escalate, so do expectations for diligence.

 
 
Monitoring for emerging supply chain hazards is an important function for a proactive quality system. Compliance standards demand regular review and update of risk assessments, but ideally risk information should be monitored as soon as it becomes available and associated risk assessments should be updated when new trends or threats are recognised.