The supplier questions, in order

One: are these raw or roasted, and if roasted, to what?

Time and temperature, in writing, against the lot. If they are roasted, you are buying their kill step and you need to be able to describe it. If they are raw, the kill step is yours and the rest of this property applies to you directly.

Two: what is your aflatoxin program?

What they test, how often, and what they will document. Roasting does not remove aflatoxin, so this one is entirely upstream and entirely theirs. An inability to answer is itself an answer.

Three: what else runs on the same equipment?

Their cross-contact picture becomes yours. A sunflower seed that was processed on peanut equipment is a peanut question in your almond butter, and your label has to account for it.

Four: what is the harvest or pack date?

Not the best-before. Nuts have a clock that starts well before you buy them, and grinding accelerates whatever is already under way. A supplier who will not say is a supplier whose stock age you are guessing at.

Five: will you put all of that in writing against the lot?

This is the question that separates documentation from reassurance. A general assurance about what they usually do is not evidence about the sacks in your store room, and the lot number is what makes it specific.

File the answers with the lot

In the same place the batch log lives, so proving any of it later is a lookup rather than a search through old email. A certificate nobody can find is a certificate you do not have.

Ask the same questions every year

Suppliers change their own suppliers, their equipment and their testing without telling customers. A documentation pack from three years ago describes an operation that may no longer exist, so the review belongs on a calendar rather than on the memory of having once asked.

References