laboration between the firm and its logistics service providers (e.g.,
transportation firms, warehousing providers, 3PLs, etc…). Do you
have emergency contact information for your service providers and
suppliers?
Public Interface Management: The security related relationships
and exchanges of information with the government and the public.
Do you comply with government-required record-keeping? Do you
have a communication strategy regarding contamination/security
incidents?
• Use outside lab testing as necessary, including targeted pesticide
testing or contaminant testing of
sealed containers that are placed
on hold before release for shipping from sites like India and
China.
“A“Ask when the last time the producer was audited, or visited. If your supplier can’t readily come up with any of this, they aren’t paying
enough attention to supply chain security.”
In addition to identifying these competencies, the research team
developed a spreadsheet benchmarking tool that is available online, at
no cost, to allow companies to compare their practices internally as
well as to benchmark their practices against organizations with high
security performance. To download this tool and read an in-depth
summary of the research, go to http://broad.msu.edu/supplychain/
executivebriefing/issues/issue?oid=95
Key Issues for Organic Businesses
When it comes to applying these competencies to your supply
chain, organic companies have a relatively good head start compared
to conventional food companies. “Organic businesses have had track-
ing and full supply chain traceability as the core of our business prac-
tices for a long time, so we’re fine tuning rather than having to make
quantum leaps,” says Dave Alexander, founder and CEO of Global Or-
ganics, an organic ingredients supplier. “We do have the organic in-
tegrity side of things to contend with, though, and that is a challenge
conventional suppliers and producers don’t have to deal with, but ulti-
mately I think it benefits us.”
Bill Wolf, president of Wolf, DiMatteo + Associates, a global organic
strategic advisory firm, recommends a robust supply chain program
not only to protect against business interruptions but also to differenti-
ate and protect one’s brand by focusing on quality assurance. Accord-
ing to Wolf, an organic supply chain security program should:
• Have more than one supplier for key ingredients, and in more than
one area of the world just in case weather conditions affect supply
availability;
• Include a systematic approach to ensure organic integrity of the ingredients or supplies including written quality specifications and
appropriate quality control systems;
• Look for opportunities to contract with growers to encourage conversion, which could include paying premiums for transition crops;
Organic Supply Chain Security
in Action
Out of the 10 security competencies from Whipple’s research, one of
the top competencies that separated
the most effective supply chain security programs from the rest was relationship management. Regular visits
to suppliers and independent audits
are two of the ways that organic companies can build better relationships—and better supply chain
security.
“We visit our suppliers on a yearly
basis with an external food safety sci-
entist,” says Roy Jurgens, president of
Multiple Organics, an international
organic ingredient wholesale com-
pany. “Our goal is to constantly look
for ways to improve food safety and to
convey guidelines to suppliers on se-
curity protocols for every step of the
process, from production to container
loading, to transport from the facility
to the loading dock. We then take an
extra step to make sure everyone is
adhering to best practices by testing
each lot for food safety and perform-
ing random pesticide residue tests.”
Global Organics’ Alexander also
stresses the importance of regular vis-
its and audits. “There’s nothing like
kicking the tires in person and devel-
oping a relationship with the produc-
tion and quality control staff to get
things heading in the right direction.
We have independent third party food
safety audits (AIB, BRC, etc.) done for
our major supply partners. This helps
get them up to par and hopefully en-
sures continuous improvement,” he
says.
Both Alexander and Jurgens also
emphasized the importance of asking
