Every year, food fraud costs the global industry up to $15bn and every recall costs an average of $10m in direct losses alone. Yet the businesses most exposed to that risk are still managing supplier certification by email and spreadsheet. So how can they scale their processes digitally to meet the demands of a modern industry?
Food supply chains have never been more complex or exposed. For brands and retailers, maintaining transparency and trust within supplier networks is paramount. Yet many supplier management processes have failed to keep pace with the industry, leaving gaps that are costly in operational terms and can become a reputational risk.
The challenge lies with traditional methods of supplier certification tracking and verification, which often rely on manual, resource-intensive processes fraught with risk and delay. With the global food supply chain valued at over US$8 trillion and food recalls costing companies an average of $10m in direct costs, a shift from reactive to resilient supplier management is needed – one that reflects how supplier networks function today, rather than in the past.
From administration to strategy
Supplier certification management processes are frequently treated as an administrative necessity rather than a strategic capability. Certificates are requested by email, logged into spreadsheets and reviewed on fixed cycles. In isolation, each step appears reasonable. However, at scale, the weaknesses quickly emerge. This approach is not only inefficient but also vulnerable to human error and fraudulent documentation – a growing concern in the industry, with food fraud estimated to cost the global food industry between $10bn and $15bn every year.
Certification status is not static. When teams are managing anywhere from dozens up to thousands of suppliers across the globe, status changes may go unnoticed for weeks or months. The result is a window of risk that can compromise product integrity and brand reputation. Often, this risk only becomes apparent during a scheduled review, a customer enquiry, or worst of all, a product incident.
This is not a question of competence or commitment. Manual processes simply do not scale to meet the demands of the modern industry.
From retrospect to real-time
So, there is growing recognition across the industry that due diligence must evolve from a retrospective check into a continuous process. At the heart of that change is data – specifically, access to live, verified certification information that reflects the reality of a supplier’s status today, not last quarter.
“Instead of maintaining records, supplier teams can focus on interpreting risk. Instead of reacting to issues after the fact, they can intervene earlier and more confidently”
Centralised platforms that draw data directly from authentic sources, such as Directory Pro from BRCGS, address a long-standing vulnerability – namely, reliance on supplier-provided documents. Independently verified data reduces the risk of error and fraud, while live alerts remove the lag between a status change and action being taken.
Consider the scale; over 100,000 global businesses specify and rely on BRCGS-certified suppliers, resulting in an estimated two million individual certificate transactions annually. Each transaction is a moment where trust is essential.
For supplier quality teams, this kind of visibility fundamentally changes how time and attention are spent. Instead of maintaining records, they can focus on interpreting risk. Instead of reacting to issues after the fact, they can intervene earlier and more confidently.
From compliance to capability
The most significant shift is the move beyond compliance to operational resilience. Businesses can work from a shared view of supplier certification status, so that conversations become more informed, and decisions more defensible.
This approach also supports stronger collaboration across the supply chain. When expectations around transparency are clear and data flows are standardised, the administrative burden on suppliers is reduced and trust is reinforced rather than tested.
The Red Tractor Assurance Team in the UK are already leveraging technology to incorporate centralised visibility and authentic, live data into their licencing approval process: “Incorporating BRCGS Directory Pro into the Red Tractor Licence approval process has been a real asset to our business as it has made our systems more efficient by having everything we need in one place,” says the organisation. “The real time auto alerts keep us abreast of live changes allowing us to respond quickly where required and, through this integration with the Red Tractor database, our licensees do not have to manually upload their BRCGS certificate saving them time and speeding up our licensing approval activity.”
Redefining best practice
‘Best practice’ in supplier management has traditionally meant offline processes based on collating documentation and diligent checking. As the food industry looks to strengthen supply chain resilience, the conversation must move beyond whether assurance is in place, to how effectively it operates in real conditions. Live data, verified sources and centralised visibility are no longer optional enhancements; they are becoming the foundations of credible due diligence.
This level of transparency takes due diligence from a reactive, administrative task into a proactive, strategic function. This evolution is already visible in how leading global brands are managing their supplier networks. Michelle Murphy, SQA Systems, training and documentation manager at Pepsico describes the impact of having a complete, 360-degree view of all BRCGS suppliers globally: “Directory Pro is fantastic - it provides the visibility we were missing. We have seen a really positive impact on our administration processes from the day-to-day insights on status changes of our suppliers.”
Only six months since its launch in October 2025, the positive global impact of Directory Pro is evident. Usage data shows 15,000 unique companies across 120 countries have already leveraged these new tools, facilitating over 545,000 site status searches and downloading nearly 95,000 authentic BRCGS certificates. This has saved an estimated 50,000 hours of administration time. With over 250,000 notification alerts sent to date, that’s 250,000 windows of risk eliminated.
Ultimately, protecting product integrity is about reducing risk and enabling better decisions. When businesses can see changes as they happen and trust the data in front of them, they are better equipped to safeguard brands and protect consumers. The future of supplier assurance will not be defined by more checks, but by smarter ones.
Find out more about Directory Pro from BRCGS
