PLANREFERENCE OUTLINE

Foreign Supplier Verification Program

Programme for the US importer obligation to verify that each foreign supplier produces food meeting an equivalent level of public health protection. Determines who the FSVP importer actually is, analyses hazards per specific food rather than by category, establishes who controls each hazard and what documentation that assumption requires, evaluates the supplier alongside the food, and treats verification as an activity performed and evidenced rather than a certificate accepted. Maps to 21 CFR Part 1, Subpart L.

What a template is not

A template is a document baseline to adapt inside your own quality system. SPEQ does not approve, validate, or take responsibility for what you issue from it, and using one is not evidence of compliance.

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REGULATIONS MAPPED
21 CFR Part 1, Subpart L
DOCUMENT TYPE
Plan
LAST UPDATED
August 2026
PURPOSE

US food importers carry a personal obligation to verify that each foreign supplier produces food meeting an equivalent level of public health protection. It is not a customs formality and it is not discharged by accepting a certificate — the obligation attaches to a company by its role, not by its facility. Determining who the importer is for each food, and what verification is adequate for each hazard, belongs to that company.

What's Inside

✓Determination of who the importer is for each food, with the reasoning recorded rather than assumed
✓Hazard analysis performed per specific food and origin, not at the level of a product category
✓Identification of who controls each hazard, and the written assurance that assumption requires
✓Supplier evaluation covering performance and compliance history alongside the food’s own hazard profile
✓Verification activities matched to hazard severity, each one performed by you and evidenced
✓Corrective actions where verification fails, including what is done with product already imported
✓Reassessment triggers and the periodic review that keeps the programme matched to the supply base

How to Use It

1Determine the importer for each food before anything else — a customs broker or the foreign supplier does not carry this obligation for you.
2Analyse the specific food and its origin; a category-level analysis misses the hazard that attaches to one process or one growing region.
3Where a hazard is controlled downstream, obtain and hold the written assurance that assumption requires rather than relying on the assumption itself.
4Perform and evidence a verification activity — accepting a certificate is receiving someone else’s claim, not verifying anything yourself.
5Match verification intensity to the hazard and record the reasoning, because an undifferentiated programme is the finding most often raised.
6Define reassessment triggers in advance, so a change in a supplier’s process does not leave the analysis describing an older food.
DOCUMENT CONTENTS

The full section structure of this template — every section and sub-section, so you can use it as a baseline for your own site document.

—Document Control
› Document Information› Approval Signatures› Revision History› Distribution List
1Who the Importer Is
2Hazard Analysis — Per Food
3Who Controls Each Hazard
4Supplier Evaluation
5Verification Activities
6Corrective Actions and Reassessment
REGULATORY CONTEXT

21 CFR Part 1, Subpart L sets the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs requirements for importers, including hazard analysis, evaluation of the supplier and the food, verification activities appropriate to the hazard, corrective actions, and reassessment. It does not tell you which verification activity is adequate for a particular hazard, or how often a particular supplier should be reassessed — those determinations are the importer’s, and they must be documented and defensible. The programme structure is SPEQ practitioner synthesis.

MAPPED STANDARDS
21 CFR Part 1, Subpart L
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