Audits

General Requirements

Operations producing fresh produce must be independently certified or assessed to a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognized audit standard or, by exception, a Walmart alternative food safety audit standard. Failure to maintain annual certification may result in loss of business and deactivation of a supplier's vendor number. This is a requirement for all fresh produce operations from growing operations to final product, regardless of ownership. This may include, but is not limited to, the following types of operations: farm, greenhouse, indoor growing, cooling/cold storage, packinghouse, and processing facilities. It is the responsibility of the supplier to ensure all operations comply with Walmart's audit and certification requirements – including scheduling any necessary audits. Re-audits must be scheduled and completed in a timely manner and avoid lapses in certification. Note that most GFSI-recognized audit schemes allow certification bodies to grant timeline extensions for justifiable reasons, e.g. seasonality. Also note that local, state, and federal inspections will not be accepted in place of a GFSI-recognized certification. Suppliers will be required to disclose their supply chain to ensure compliance with these requirements. Any changes to supply chain sites shall be communicated to a supplier's Food Safety manager. New sites must have Walmart Food Safety approval prior to use.

For more information about the GFSI-recognized certification process and to view a full list of recognized schemes, we recommend visiting the official GFSI website.

Small Suppliers or Any Sized Potato/Sweet Potato Suppliers

Suppliers providing Private Branded items (except potatoes/sweet potatoes must comply with the General Requirements)
While Walmart encourages all suppliers to work towards full GFSI-recognized certification, we understand that some fresh produce suppliers have limited food safety resources due to the size of their company. Once a supplier confirms their small status or confirms that they supply unbranded or national branded potatoes or sweet potatoes (any sized supplier) with their Food Safety Manager, the supplier may complete an alternative audit to GFSI-recognized certification. For a supplier to qualify as small, they must meet one of the following criteria:

1. The supplier's global sales revenue is under $3 million per year; or 
2. The supplier's total global sales revenue to Walmart, Inc. is under $350,000 per year.

Please remember that Walmart does not accept regulatory inspections conducted by federal, state, or local agencies such as FDA, USDA, Department of Agriculture, or Local Health agencies. We also do not accept ServSafe certifications or audits conducted on behalf of other retailers. Failure to maintain an annual audit may result in loss of business and deactivation of a supplier's vendor number. It is the responsibility of the supplier to ensure all operations producing or providing their products comply with Walmart's certification and audit requirements – including scheduling any necessary audits.

For more information about non GFSI-recognized audits qualified suppliers can complete, please click here.

Risk

In addition to Walmart's approved audit & certification requirement, certain sites providing Private Branded products to Walmart or Sam’s Club will be required to undergo a risk-based product and site review, based on science. Information regarding the products, processes, and past supplier and site performance will be used to determine if a site must complete this review and may also determine which steps must be completed. Suppliers will be responsible for any risk-based review activities and associated costs.

Documentation Review

Sites will be required to complete a Product Design Hazard Analysis (PDHA) form, a Supplier Questionnaire, or both. The PDHA form focuses on how significant hazards associated with the products produced are mitigated or eliminated by raw material suppliers or through the implementation of preventive controls at the supplying site. Completion of these documents may require suppliers to provide supportive documents upon Walmart’s request, such as process flow diagrams.

Desk Assessment

After the documentation review, the supplier may be contacted virtually or via email to answer additional questions or share more documentation related to their programs or processes.

On-Site Assessment

Depending on the outcome of the desk assessment, or as required by Walmart for higher-risk products or sites, an on-site assessment may occur. The duration of an on-site assessment is expected to take no more than a single day, during which a tour of the site, production processes, and verification of control programs will occur.

Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA)

Any critical or major non-conformances found during a risk-based review will be shared with the supplier. The supplier will be provided a timeline to prepare and submit their CAPAs to the Walmart Food Safety team for review and acceptance. It should be noted that any critical non-conformance(s) will result in immediate suspension of the site, and the site will not be allowed to produce any Private Branded product until the CAPA plan has been approved by the Walmart Food Safety Team and the Walmart Food Safety team determines that the CAPA plan has been satisfactorily implemented.

Specs

Private Branded products must comply with all Walmart product specifications – including those for microbiological and chemical properties. Suppliers must implement programs to verify that products comply with these specifications, which may include raw material, environmental, finished product, or a combination of these tests as appropriate (per Supplier’s internal risk assessment). If applicable, suppliers will be required to share verification testing results with Walmart Food Safety upon request. 

Fraud

General Requirements

Suppliers are expected to understand all risks associated with their raw materials and final products, including Economically Motivated Adulteration as defined by the FDA. Suppliers should be aware that Walmart reserves the right to sample product from commerce at any time to conduct authenticity testing. Results will be shared with suppliers and follow-up investigations will be conducted as deemed necessary based on testing results. Suppliers providing products found to be intentionally adulterated, e.g., with valuable ingredients missing or substituted, are subject to suspension and termination.

Organic Requirements

Organic food suppliers are responsible for preventing any organic fraud related to their products, as well as meeting all the requirements noted in the USDA National Organic Product (NOP) Regulation. These requirements include having valid NOP Inspection Certificates, which must be provided to Walmart and Sam’s Club as needed. Suppliers who supply products that are deemed fraudulent, for example due to mislabeling and/or not meeting the USDA National Organic Product (NOP) Regulation (such as missing NOP inspection certification), may face suspension or permanent loss of business.

Crop

It is our expectation that suppliers have programs in place to ensure proper and legal use of pre- and post-harvest crop protection products. This includes agricultural inputs such as pesticides (including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides), plant growth regulators, and more. All crop protection products must be used in compliance with U.S. Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) tolerances and according to registered crop protection product label directions for target crops. Under no circumstances should crop protection materials exceed U.S. MRL tolerance levels or be found on commodities for which no tolerance has been established. Suppliers should ensure they are familiar with the U.S. EPA tolerances for pesticide residue in food. If Walmart or any enforcement agencies find any commodities to be out of compliance with the U.S. regulatory requirements, we may delay/reject shipments or withdraw product from inventory which could lead to discontinuation of business for both our suppliers and their affiliated growers at all subsidiaries of Walmart.

Leafy

Walmart and Sam's Club require all growing operations of leafy greens*  within the states of California and Arizona to be certified by and remain in good standing with their respective LGMA entities. This requirement is in addition to the existing GFSI-recognized GAP (field) and GMP (facility) audit certifications.

*Walmart defines leafy greens based on the LGMA definition, which currently includes the following items: iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, baby leaf lettuce (i.e. - immature lettuce or leafy greens), escarole, endive, spring mix, spinach, cabbage (green, red, and savoy), kale, arugula, and chard.

Regulatory

Suppliers are responsible for ensuring all sites providing product to Walmart retail operations are compliant with any applicable international (including foreign national), federal, state, and local requirements. In addition, all products provided must be compliant with the federal, state, and local requirements for the store or club in which the products will be sold. This may include, but is not limited to, USDA, FDA, and/or state registration of a supplier’s site, and any related product labeling requirements. All products provided to Walmart must be produced in a commercial food manufacturing or packing environment.

Suppliers (both domestic and foreign) are also expected to assist regulatory and health agencies with investigations in a timely manner. Walmart assists various regulatory agencies in outbreak investigations and expect suppliers to provide any traceback documentation that may be requested. Likewise, if public health may be at risk, even if products produced by a supplier have not been directly implicated in an outbreak, it is our expectation that suppliers comply with any recommended product removals.

Systems

To help verify compliance with all Food Safety requirements, suppliers of fresh produce will be required to use the Azzule Supply Chain Program (SCP), the blockchain platform, and the ProSpec and/or Bamboo Rose system as applicable. 

Azzule Supply Chain Program (SCP) - Required use by all suppliers

Fresh produce suppliers of Private Branded, National Branded, and Unbranded produce items are required to transfer food safety audit reports and certificates using the Azzule Supply Chain Program (SCP) for all growing and facility operations that are used or will be used to supply Walmart. Suppliers must ensure that new audits, re-audits, and certificate extensions are transferred in a timely manner to avoid certificate expirations. Questions regarding the Azzule SCP can be directed to support@azzule.com. 

Blockchain - Required use by Fresh Leafy Green and Green Bell Pepper suppliers

Fresh leafy green and green bell pepper suppliers are required to register for Walmart Item Tracer and use the blockchain platform to enable visibility to all growing and facility operations that are used to supply our stores and clubs. Suppliers must ensure that for every purchase order containing these items, Walmart Food Safety is able to trace back to the farm level and every subsequent step in the supply chain by harvest and/or production lot for all cases received at by Walmart. Questions regarding the Blockchain requirement can be directed to item-tracer-support@walmart.com.

ProSpec/Bamboo Rose - Required use by Private Branded suppliers

Private Label suppliers are required to use Walmart’s product life-cycle management (PLM) systems. Walmart Private Label suppliers are required to use the ProSpec system and Sam's Club Private Label suppliers are required to use the Bamboo Rose system. Certain critical Food Safety traceability information is housed within each system, which must be accessible at all times in case of a product or ingredient recall or outbreak investigation.

• Each site making final product or a component for a Walmart or Sam’s Club Private Label must be disclosed in the applicable PLM system. The site must then be approved and set to “active” in the system(s) by the Food Safety team before use.
• For all directly procured ingredients in each product, suppliers are required to disclose the supplier of each ingredient as well as the ingredient’s country of origin.
• Walmart has defined minimum final product microbiological and chemical specification requirements for each food category. Supplier items are expected to comply with these minimum requirements and any applicable legal or regulatory requirements. When defining specifications within the PLM system, suppliers shall select the matching food category from the list of product guidelines on the Food Safety Microbiological/Chemical Requirements tab. This will ensure the appropriate minimum food safety product specifications are populated in the system.

Product

If for any reason a situation arises where a supplier needs to remove product from Walmart Stores, Sam’s Clubs, Distribution Centers, or Fulfillment Centers:

• Supplier should contact their Buyer, Private Brand Quality Manager, and Food Safety Manager immediately to communicate that a removal is necessary. For any impending recalls impacting Walmart or Sam’s Club, it is important that this contact be made prior to any public notification. Additional information may be requested, which must be provided in a timely manner.
• The Walmart Recall Managers will take the lead in initiating the recall from Walmart facilities, communicating to all impacted stores, clubs, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers to hold or remove product quickly. They will also send communications to our members and online customers notifying them of a potential issue. Once a recall is terminated and the supplier receives approval, the supplier may resume sending safe products to Walmart stores, clubs, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers. Please note that depending on the nature of the issue necessitating the recall, a supplier may be required to successfully complete an investigation and corrective action plan before Walmart Food Safety approval is given to resume shipment.
• Recall information, based on manufacturers’ and regulatory agencies’ press releases that involve products sold through Walmart stores, Walmart.com, Sam’s Club, or SamsClub.com can be found here.

Retail Link® is an online hub for the data, documentation, reports, and special applications that suppliers use to manage their business with Walmart. The Product Removal app is located within Retail Link® and is used to remove products from stores, clubs, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers. The Walmart Food Safety compliance team uses data to execute product withdrawals and recalls through this portal.

Complaint

While it is an expectation that all suppliers have a complaint management program in place, Walmart has specific expectations of our Private Branded suppliers. Walmart expects our Private Brand suppliers to promptly launch a thorough investigation any time a food safety-related complaint is received. Food Safety-related complaints may include, but are not limited to, issues involving:

• Illness
• Injury
• Death
• Foreign Objects
• Chemical Taste or Odor
• Alleged food tampering originating at the supplier or within their supply chain
• Any of the above issues resulting in Medical Attention being sought
• Any of the above issues resulting in Legal Action
• Any of the above issues resulting in escalation through broadcast or social media

Food safety complaints should be handled with the utmost priority. Suppliers should acknowledge receipt of any escalated complaint sent to them directly from a Walmart Food Safety Manager within 24 hours. We recognize that some complaints may require more time to investigate than others, however Walmart expects suppliers to submit investigation reports back to the Food Safety Manager within the requested timeline. If no timeline is provided, this information should be provided no later than two weeks from initial receipt of the complaint. Information expected to be included in the report can be found in the Investigation Expectations section below.

As suppliers are ultimately responsible for any legal or financial outcomes from the complaint or claim, Walmart asks that suppliers contact the customer or member directly in order to obtain any additional information needed to conduct an investigation. All communications with the customer or member should be handled in English, or the customer or member’s preferred language, during reasonable hours for the U.S. and in the form of communication that is most comfortable for the customer or member (e.g., email or phone). The supplier can determine whether they prefer to handle these communications internally or utilize a third-party customer service agency (which may be preferred by international suppliers). All communications should be initiated with the customer or member within 48 hours of receiving the complaint. For this reason, we ask all suppliers to have an emergency plan in place to cover issues that may arise during weekends or holidays.

If suppliers need to retrieve the product, packaging, or foreign object for analysis, we request that suppliers send a pre-paid shipping container with a tracking number to the customer or member. We recommend international suppliers partner with a third-party company or lab to send and receive these pre-paid trackable shipping containers for expedited investigations. The supplier should consider having the pre-paid trackable shipping container sent directly to a third-party lab for investigation to ensure final analysis results are not compromised by chain-of-custody issues.

If at any time during an investigation of a complaint or claim a supplier determines that there may be a widespread issue which could impact additional customers or members, suppliers should immediately contact the Food Safety Recall team to begin a product removal. (See Product Removals section above.)

Investigation

A summary of each area below should be included in the supplier’s investigation report that is submitted back to their Food Safety Manager as applicable. Please ensure the site name and address are clearly indicated on each investigation report unless this information cannot be determined from the complaint information provided.

• Analyzing Similar Complaints: In order to determine whether a complaint is an isolated incident or presents a potentially widespread food safety issue, suppliers are asked to analyze other complaints received in the previous 6 months (this timespan can be expanded or contracted based on the shelf-life of the product). If suppliers have received similar complaints for the implicated item, products that are similar to the implicated item, or products that are made with the same raw materials as the implicated item, the supplier should inform their Food Safety Manager immediately. If suppliers discover that related products or ingredients are at issue or find other evidence of some common or widespread problem, additional actions may be requested.      
• Review of Production Records: If a lot code for the product is available, suppliers are expected to trace the lot back to the production date and review records for any abnormalities. Records to review include, but are not limited to, batch sheets, finished product testing results, foreign object detection equipment records (e.g. for metal detectors, x-ray, optical sorters, etc.) Suppliers should also look for abnormalities including review of calibration logs, any detection issues or rejections, notice of unusual occurrences and corrective action logs (NUOCA), deviation logs, cleaning and sanitation logs, or any other relevant CCP records.
• Review of Retain Samples: Retain samples should be analyzed to determine if the reported issue can be observed in similar products. Where invasive tests are required, Walmart recommends documenting the tests via testing records and photographs.
• Review of Production Room CCTV: Where relevant and useful, review production day CCTV footage to help determine complaint cause.
• Conducting the Root Cause Analysis: A formal root cause analysis should be conducted for the complaint using all available information. The root cause analysis should consider any additional products or lots that could be affected by the issue. If suppliers do not have a root cause method defined in their SOP, use the questions “who, what, when, where, why, and how” to narrow in on one key issue.
• Creating & Implementing Corrective and Preventive Actions: Corrective actions should be identified and implemented as soon as appropriate and preventive actions should be taken that are designed to mitigate or prevent the risk of the same issue reoccurring. A formal timebound corrective action report should be submitted to the supplier’s Food Safety Manager for review and approval. Depending on the situation, it may be acceptable to implement both short-term and long-term corrective actions. For critical food safety issues that are identified, immediate corrective actions are to be completed within 24 hours or prior to further production.
• Confirmation of Resolution with Customer or Member: Unless the customer or member has explicitly indicated they do not wish to be contacted, or no contact information is provided, suppliers should contact the customer or member to obtain additional information as well as to resolve the issue. Always treat the customer or member with respect, show empathy regarding their food safety complaint, and keep a detailed record of any communications.