Supplier approval questionnaire
A supplier approval questionnaire is a standard form a food manufacturer sends a prospective supplier before buying from it, asking about the supplier's sites, certification, allergen controls, testing and traceability. It is how a plant decides whether a supplier goes on the approved list, and it is usually the moment the first certificates arrive.
What a supplier approval questionnaire is
A supplier approval questionnaire is a standard form a food manufacturer sends to a prospective supplier, asking it to describe its legal entity, its manufacturing sites, the certification it holds, its allergen controls, its testing regime and its traceability, and to attach the documents that back each answer. It is completed once, before approval, and it is the written basis on which a QA manager decides whether that supplier may be bought from at all.
Most plants use one questionnaire for every supplier and vary the depth by risk. A high-risk raw material supplier gets follow-up questions and often a site visit; a cardboard case supplier gets the short version. The questionnaire is not the approval itself, it is the evidence you used to approve, which is why auditors ask to see the completed form next to the decision rather than instead of it.
A worked example
A ready-meal plant is adding a new spice blender. Purchasing wants it live for a trial run in three weeks. The QA manager sends the questionnaire, and back comes a completed form, a BRCGS audit certificate expiring in eleven months, an allergen statement naming mustard and celery handled on the same line, a product specification and a sample certificate of analysis. The questionnaire did its job: the supplier is approvable, with a note that the allergen position needs checking against the finished product label.
Three weeks later the trial runs. Eleven months later that audit certificate expires, and nothing about the questionnaire reminds anyone.
What a questionnaire typically asks, and what it should produce
| Section | What you are asking | The document it should produce |
|---|---|---|
| Company and site | Legal entity, every manufacturing site, the named contact for quality matters | A person you can chase documents from, by name and email |
| Certification | Which scheme the site is certified to, certificate number, issue and expiry dates | A copy of the audit certificate with its expiry date recorded |
| Product detail | Composition, origin, shelf life, intended use, storage conditions | A signed specification you can check deliveries against |
| Allergen controls | Allergens handled on site, segregation, cleaning validation, labelling practice | An allergen declaration you keep current, not a one-off email |
| Analysis and testing | Which parameters are tested, at what frequency, by which laboratory | A certificate of analysis per batch or per delivery, as agreed |
| Traceability and recall | Lot coding, how far forward and back they can trace, mock recall practice | Written evidence the supplier can trace one lot in both directions |
| Subcontracting | Any outsourced processing, packing or storage | A list of sites you did not know were in your supply chain |
Where the questionnaire stops being useful
A questionnaire is a snapshot. It is accurate on the day it is signed and it decays from that day on. Certificates expire, suppliers change lines, contacts leave, and the certificate of analysis you were promised per batch quietly stops arriving. Nothing in a completed form on a shared drive tells you any of that happened.
That is the gap most non-conformances sit in. An auditor rarely objects to the questionnaire; they object to the audit certificate on file that expired four months ago, or the allergen declaration from a supplier whose product moved lines. The questionnaire gets a supplier onto the approved list. Keeping them on it is a different job, done monthly, with dates.
Certly is built for the second job: a supplier record holding contact details and the certificate types that supplier is required to provide, such as an allergen declaration, a certificate of analysis or an audit certificate, so the requirement set from the questionnaire becomes a live list rather than an answer in a PDF. It tracks and reminds; it does not verify that a document is genuine or judge your approval decision.
Related terms
- Approved supplier list. The output of approval: the register of suppliers you are permitted to buy from, and the thing an auditor asks for first. See our page on the approved supplier list.
- Certificate of analysis (CoA). The per-batch or per-consignment test result the questionnaire commits a supplier to sending. See our page on the certificate of analysis.
- Allergen declaration. The supplier's written statement of the allergens handled and controlled at its site, usually requested in the allergen section of the questionnaire. See our page on the allergen declaration from a supplier.
- Supplier approval programme. The whole cycle: risk assessment, questionnaire, approval, document collection, expiry monitoring and review.
- Document control. The discipline of knowing which version of a document is current and who holds it, which is what breaks when questionnaires live in email.
If you are deciding which documents your questionnaire should demand in the first place, read our guide to what documents to collect from every food supplier. If you are mid-onboarding and the trial delivery is booked, see onboarding a new supplier.
Questions
Is a supplier approval questionnaire the same as a supplier audit?
No. The questionnaire is a self-declaration completed by the supplier, so it is only as good as their honesty and their understanding of your questions. An audit is you or a third party verifying conditions on site. Most plants use the questionnaire as the first screen and reserve audits for higher-risk suppliers or for cases where the answers do not hold together.
How often should a supplier approval questionnaire be reissued?
Common practice is an annual or biennial review, with an immediate reissue when something material changes: a new site, a new certification body, a change of ownership, or a change in the allergens handled. Reissuing the form does not replace tracking certificate expiry dates in between, because certificates lapse on their own schedule, not on your review cycle.
What should I do if a supplier refuses to complete the questionnaire?
Treat it as a finding, not an inconvenience. Record the refusal, note what you could not establish, and decide whether the material is low enough risk to approve on other evidence such as a current audit certificate and specification. Approving with a gap you have written down is defensible; approving with a gap nobody recorded is what an auditor finds.
Does a completed questionnaire satisfy an auditor on its own?
Rarely. An auditor generally wants the questionnaire, the risk assessment behind the depth of questioning, the approval decision, and the documents the supplier promised, with current dates. The last part is where most plants lose marks, because the paperwork was complete at approval and nobody watched the expiry dates after.
Can the questionnaire be replaced by software?
The judgement in it cannot. Deciding which questions matter for which material, and whether an answer is adequate, is QA work. What software can take off you is the clerical half: holding each supplier's contact and the certificate types they owe you, and keeping those documents current between reviews. Certly is being built for that half, and we are taking early access names now.