Manufacturing food & beverage products is a sensitive business. Food quality, allergen awareness, and ingredient information are paramount to success, but also to consumer safety.
Compliance with certification standards such as BRCGS and FSSC 22000 begins in the supply chain, and these are just some of the elements of supplier management which affect food & beverage manufacturers.
Allergen management and sustainability throughout production are also priorities for manufacturers navigating tighter restrictions, greater consumer visibility into organisational processes, and the resulting growing pressure to operate responsibly and transparently.
Certification, Regulation, and Data Management
Most large food & beverage manufacturers already have the policies in place to be able to address these issues - the issues manifest as gaps in in compliance capability.
Supplier data feeds the policies which hold up organisational reputations. To maintain that reputation, supplier data must be able to stand up to audits and regulations at the foundational level.
Visibility and transparency over your suppliers isn’t guaranteed while the underlying data needed to monitor compliance may be fragmented and stale.
Therefore, the priority for the procurement, supply chain, and quality teams who work together to onboard, manage, and assess suppliers throughout their lifecycle is accuracy.
With a clear process, and the right technology to support the teams operating at the heart of food & beverage manufacturing organisations, data accuracy and compliance don’t need to be a source of stress.
“Only 29 percent of companies [...] [have] full upstream and downstream [master data management] integrations with source systems and business applications, as well as all governance or stewardship roles, in place.” - McKinsey, May 15 2024
Tier 1 Suppliers and Beyond
Having oversight of just direct suppliers isn’t enough. Risks permeate throughout the supply chain, and you need to be able to prove due diligence.
As supply chains grow long and complex, our oversight of suppliers may not be as clear. Having multiple supplier manufacturing sites is not uncommon in food & beverage manufacturing, muddying the waters further.
Risks such as allergens and other food safety requirements create increased pressure, and can be difficult to effectively track as businesses (and production) scales.
This means that managing what’s in your immediate control, like Tier 1 suppliers, is even more important.
The process of collecting all the necessary safety data and maintaining it to a sufficiently accurate standard can be a manual, constant endeavour.
This is one instance where technology can bridge the gap between suppliers and your organisation, providing a fuller picture than manually trying to trace information. Supplier management software, like ARCUS®, provides the channels through which you can access and organise supplier data efficiently, identifying risks before they can negatively impact your organisation.
“very few CPOs (18%) were formally tracking the risks that existed in their direct (tier 1) supplier base, and only 15% had visibility beyond that.” - Deloitte, 2021
EUDR
Despite delay, the EU’s deforestation regulations are in force from December 2026, affecting a number of companies who operate within the EU.
Though the legislation is European, the impact is global. It applies to wood, rubber, palm oil, soy, beef, coffee, and cacao.
The effect is far-reaching - the legislation reaches through Tier 1, 2, and 3 suppliers all the way to the geolocation origin. The burden of proof is on organisations, who must perform due diligence to ensure that no commodity entering or leaving the EU has been sourced from land which was deforested or degraded.
The legislation becomes enforceable for micro and small operators from mid-2027 - but for large and medium enterprises, compliance must happen before the end of 2026.
For food & beverage organisations based in the UK, it is likely that some level of operation will occur in the EU, and therefore that the regulation will apply. Five of the seven affected commodities pertain to food products, which increases the potential scope for food & beverage manufacturers.
Effective supplier management processes, and the ability to produce proof of compliance, are compulsory.
“Companies placing or exporting the affected products in or from the EU market will have to conduct due diligence to confirm that the products have not been sourced from land which was deforested or degraded after 31 December 2020.” - Forest Stewardship Council International