Spec sheet and certificate requests, answered from your own approved files.

The requests don't stop. A new distributor wants a spec sheet, an allergen statement and a letter of guarantee before it sets up the item. A retailer's yearly review asks for the current audit certificate. A co-manufacturer making product for you needs the spec it builds to. A buyer sends a supplier questionnaire on allergens, recalls and food defense. Someone in QA finds the right version of each file, checks dates and writes answers.

For the test, AI takes requests QA already answered. It lists every item asked for and attaches the approved file that answers it, notes each certificate's expiry date, and drafts the questionnaire answers with the document behind each one. Anything without an approved answer is marked for QA, and nothing leaves. Your reviewer holds each packet up against the one QA sent.

Certificates belong to a site and a scope. A GFSI-benchmarked certificate, whether SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000 or IFS, covers one site for a stated scope. An SQF certificate of registration, for example, prints the audit date, the next recertification date and the expiry date, and lists its scope as numbered food sector categories, such as 13, Bakery and Snack Food Processing, with the products under each. An item made at another plant or outside that scope isn't covered, however current the certificate. The draft attaches the one for the plant that makes the item and flags any that has lapsed or doesn't cover it.

Kosher and organic letters list products. An Orthodox Union letter of kosher certification names the plants, then lists each product by brand and name with its UKD-ID, its status, such as dairy, and whether the OU symbol must appear on the package, all under its own valid-through date. Organic status comes from a USDA-accredited certifier, and customers can look the operation up in USDA's Organic Integrity Database. The draft checks the item against the product list, not the company name at the top.

Statements are claims. Sesame became the ninth major food allergen on January 1, 2023, so an allergen statement written before then may not address it. Under FDA's rule, gluten-free means under 20 parts per million of gluten. Questionnaires also ask about shared lines and precautionary labeling, which turn on your allergen matrix and line schedule. The draft repeats only what your approved statements say; a question past them, such as one about a reformulated item, goes to QA unanswered.

Specs, COAs and guarantees are different papers. The spec sheet sets the limits. A certificate of analysis reports one lot's results against them; a certificate of conformance declares that a lot meets the spec without the numbers, so a customer asking for a COA per shipment needs lot numbers that match what shipped. A letter of guarantee rests on section 303(c) of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and FDA's regulation at 21 CFR 7.13 gives a general and continuing form covering every later shipment. The draft attaches the signed letter you have and never produces a new one.

Portals, feeds and what your reviewer catches. Many customers collect documents through a supplier compliance platform such as TraceGains or ReposiTrak, where every file has an expiration date their side can see. Some distributors take item data through the Global Data Synchronization Network instead, as Gordon Food Service's supplier policy describes; that feed sits outside this job. Your reviewer, usually the QA manager and the person who knows your food safety files best, watches for the mistakes that cost an account: an expired certificate, a spec from an old formula, a COA for the wrong lot, an answer that says more than your files do.

When your reviewer agrees, the same handling carries on for roughly 30 days, on requests as they arrive.

Every packet stops with your QA manager for approval before a customer or a portal sees it. The reviewer goes on checking each one against your files.

No second job starts in that month.