Hello All,
We are a small flour mill and bakery, but this is about the flour mill specifically.
We mill only wheat flour, a few different types of wheat but all wheat. The company was bought out by an investment group a few years ago and they more or less cleaned house and brought in all new management. My position was not a thing until I came on with the company a year ago (Quality Manager). The original owner was the founder and farmer for the entire operation and is still a shareholder. Since it was sold the original owner has also sold a lot of his land so we have had to find grain suppliers elsewhere. Most of the new suppliers are local farmers/elevators the original owner is friends with.
So to my issue/question. As the new management tries to get the place in order and in line with regulation I keep running into walls with the grain suppliers. We have implemented a good supplier approval program for every supplier but I more or less just get told no from our grain suppliers when trying to get documentation. Simple stuff like letters of guarantee, allergen statements, control measures in place, third party audits. I haven't really been able to find anything on what regulations farmers or elevators have to follow for food safety.
If anyone can provide any resources on this or has any experience with this matter any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Jared