Use the information on this page when performing an assessment with Food Fraud Advisors’ Vulnerability Assessment Tools:
Supply chain audits
Answer ‘yes all suppliers are audited’ in the Vulnerability Assessment Tool if you know that all the suppliers from whom you purchase this material and their suppliers are audited by your business or by third parties. Suppliers that have been successfully audited by third parties will have current certificates of conformance to food safety standards; for example they will be ‘BRC certified’ or ‘SQF certified’.
Routine Testing
A routine authenticity test is a test carried out on a regular, defined basis by your business, a trusted supplier or a third party to determine whether the material is ‘authentic’. An authentic food or food ingredient is one that is what it is claimed to be. That is, if the material is claimed to be olive oil, an authenticity test would confirm that the oil has been made from olives; if the material is claimed to be Spanish olive oil, authenticity testing would check that the chemical profile of the oil matches those of Spanish olives; if the material is claimed to be virgin Spanish olive oil, the testing would check for the origin, the species and whether the oil is virgin. If testing has occurred but it is occasional, ad-hoc or one-off then it is not considered routine and you should answer ‘no’ at this question.
Frequency of testing
Is the authenticity testing of an appropriate frequency? If routine authenticity testing does not occur, answer ‘not applicable’. If routine testing does occur, it is difficult to know whether the frequency is appropriate, even if fraudulent material has previously been detected during routine testing. Materials that are very susceptible to food fraud – that is the likelihood of occurrence is ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ – should have a very high testing frequency; testing per batch of incoming goods is best practice. An appropriate frequency of testing for a less vulnerable material could be based on testing one in five incoming batches.
Relevant audits
Is the supplier of this material subject to relevant audits? Relevant audits are those which consider adulteration, traceability, mass balance, supplier approvals and authenticity testing. Audits to GFSI food safety standards are ‘relevant’. Most other food safety management standards adequately address traceability requirements, and some also consider adulteration and mass balance. You will need to check the applicable standards or audit reports to determine if the supplier audits are considered ‘relevant’ according to this question.
Special criteria
If there are special criteria are they tested for and/or properly certified? Special criteria include organic status, halal, vegetarian, gluten-free, non-GMO and origin claims such as ‘Spanish olives’. If there are no special criteria for this material answer ‘not applicable’. Otherwise, answer according to whether or not those criteria are verified with testing and/or certifications.
Score
The score is included for interest only. It is a numerical score out of 100 with a lower score being desirable. The default score is 100 and remains 100 until all questions have been answered. This is to ensure that an incomplete assessment produces a high vulnerability rating.
