How to avoid the risks of diversifying suppliers to ensure quality and origin of food supplies

In the current context of rising raw material prices, diversifying suppliers is key to ensuring supply without increasing costs.

But it is not easy to approve new suppliers quickly and ensure that raw materials maintain the same quality as with previous suppliers.

When the same raw material is sourced from different suppliers, the level of risk and the need for exhaustive quality control increases to ensure that both the primary and secondary properties of the different batches are similar and do not affect the homogeneity or performance of the final product.

In the case presented here, a producer of an ingredient blends several raw materials that its customer subsequently uses to produce bakery products. One of the main raw materials in that ingredient is pectin, extracted from lemon peel and other sources to be used as a thickener.The batch produced was released based on the functional viscosity tests performed, which were within the standards accepted by the customer. This is atypical industry control for this type of product. However, when the customer started using the ingredient, they found that the product generated excess dust that interfered with the production process. This was a change from previous batches received.

To find out the problem, a qualitative analysis based on NIR technology was carried out, comparing the new pectin used in the development of this final product with other approved HM pectins used in the past for its manufacture. The spectrum of the new raw material was totally different from those used before. As a result, the customer noted an un even performance in their final product.

In this case, this deviation generated minor problems in the production process, but if it had been used in jams, beverages or yogurts, it would have substantially affected the performance of the final product.

The use ofNIR technology, and in particular qualitative analysis, allows the detection of minimal deviations immediately, avoiding subsequent customer complaints that are costly and tedious to manage, as well as inefficiency and higher costs.