Food and Drink Federation director general Ian Wright has called for urgent talks with retailers to end what he called “foolish” and “unreasonable” demands being placed on companies by the system of supplier factory audits.
Speaking at the Groceries Code Adjudicator conference in London this week, Wright said some of the requirements being asked of suppliers had reached farcical proportions and called for a new single system of standards, even if it meant the current BRC Standards had to be toughened up.
Wright said he understood moves taken by retailers to address areas such as food safety, following the horsemeat scandal for example, but he warned that some had gone way too far in what they were expecting across a whole series of audit requests, and that these varied massively from retailer to retailer, taking in areas such as factory safety.
Wright, who also accused retailers of regularly demanding commercially sensitive information from suppliers as part of the auditing process, said: “Obviously any manufacturer is going to want as much of a light touch as possible, commensurate with value assurance and quality, so obviously I am speaking for one side.
“But those who follow the individual conversations among suppliers know that this is an issue which is absolutely top of their list of concerns. It’s the issue which comes up every time I speak to my members and its placing an unreasonable burden on them.”
Wright continued: “Some of the approaches to site security during factory visits are ludicrous. One of my members told me that an auditor came round and made some suggestion about the plug sockets in the server line. They suggested the retailer they were representing preferred sockets to be recessed into the floor. So the company scurried round and made the changes.
“Three weeks later the very same auditor, a freelancer, representing another retailer, came round and suggested the retailer they were working for would want the plugs to be raised from the floor.
“I’m sure the retailers had good reasons for wanting these changes but the way in which that information was related and the impact it has on the business is clearly foolish and a waste of time.”
Wright called for “close and speedy dialogue between all sections of the supply chain” to tackle the issue, adding that the demands were even more pressing because of the uncertainty facing companies over regulation following the EU referendum last week.
“There is no place for divisions between farmers or manufacturers and retailers,” he said.
“I do not believe it is appropriate in the new circumstances that the FDF should be in any way divisive and I recognise that our members have to meet high standards if they are to continue to supply our great retailers.
“But we must try to take a sensible route through all of this, including a more sensible approach to some of the current regulations.
“Moving back towards a single set of high quality processes, even if they are more onerous than those currently in the BRC Standards, must be a sensible move and there has to be some degree of working closer on this.”
David Brackston, technical director of BRC Standards, said it was carrying out work to try to minimise excessive cost and confusion caused by multiple audits. It has launched new modules allowing suppliers to help reduce multiple audit costs by including requirements that historically have required a separate audit, most recently for the meat sector. “There was a desire after the horsemeat scandal for buyers to get close to their supply chains and while we would not discourage that, we want to avoid a situation where it leads to excessive costs,” he said. “This is an area where we are doing an awful lot of work and most of the major supermarkets and indeed FDF members are involved in looking at it.”
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