At what cost profit? Procurement professionals need to exercise great care when sourcing food products from China.

Last Saturday, china passed a tougher food law with much tougher penalties in hopes of avoiding problems in the future like the pet food problem we are all aware of in the United States, and the tainted milk problem in their own country that sickened greater than over 300,000 and killed at least six children.

These events had a significant damaging effect on China branded products world wide and have caused many companies to seek products from sources that are closer to home.
This author has posted on this subject many times during the last year.

Already, individuals within the Chinese distribution system have questioned whether the law goes far enough toward reform of the system. Chinese consumers are also questioning the amount of success the new law will have.

During the last year the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opened offices in Beijing which we covered in a recent post, but without a similar organization in China which many had hoped would result from this legislation. This author believes it is questionable the impact the FDA can have without the same type of structure within China.

This author applauds any advancement in food safety taken by any country or organization. With that said, we must also be wary of the additional bureaucracy and the delays it may create.

Procurement professionals should continue to exercise great care when sourcing food products from China and work with your solution providers to insure that selected suppliers provide traceable data to insure rapid traceability when required.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

According to the king of all wikis, Wikipedia; a wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. For example, the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective intranets and for knowledge management. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki, originally described it as “the simplest online database that could possibly work”.

“Wiki” is a reduplication of “wiki”, a Hawaiian word for “fast”. It has been suggested that “wiki” means “What I Know Is”.

So, what is a SafeSourcing Wiki? Since SafeSourcing is a company dedicated to retail e-procurement that is safety in the supply chain and to environmental consciousness, it makes sense that the SafeSourcing Wiki would be a specialized wiki ( in this case retail e-procurement) that concentrates at a minimum on any or all of the following.

1. Retail procurement terms and links.
2. Safety standards and definitions and links.
3. Environmental certifications and definitions and links.
4. Educational content for procurement and supply chain professionals.
5. Procurement templates for commonly sourced products and services.

The nice thing about wikis is that the definitions are not static. Authorized users can add to definitions or add definitions and terms as well as rate the site. In this way a body of work can grow from the contribution of all users and help to provide a reliable source of data for professionals in a specialized field.

Please feel free to visit the safesourcing wiki regularly and offer your comments, terms, definitions and suggestions. This section of the SafeSourcing website is free tool, and it is for your use as a procurement and supply chain professional, the most difficult job in retail.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments

According to the king of all wikis, Wikipedia; a wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. For example, the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective intranets and for knowledge management. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki, originally described it as “the simplest online database that could possibly work”.

“Wiki? is a reduplication of “wiki”, a Hawaiian word for “fast”. It has been suggested that “wiki” means “What I Know Is”.

So, what is a SafeSourcing Wiki? Since SafeSourcing is a company dedicated to retail e-procurement that is safety in the supply chain and to environmental consciousness, it makes sense that the SafeSourcing Wiki would be a specialized wiki ( in this case retail e-procurement) that concentrates at a minimum on any or all of the following.

1. Retail procurement terms and links.
2. Safety standards and definitions and links.
3. Environmental certifications and definitions and links.
4. Educational content for procurement and supply chain professionals.
5. Procurement templates for commonly sourced products and services.

The nice thing about wikis is that the definitions are not static. Authorized users can add to definitions or add definitions and terms as well as rate the site. In this way a body of work can grow from the contribution of all users and help to provide a reliable source of data for professionals in a specialized field.

Please feel free to visit the safesourcing wiki regularly and offer your comments, terms, definitions and suggestions. This section of the SafeSourcing website is free tool, and it is for your use as a procurement and supply chain professional, the most difficult job in retail.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments