However, many products had been successfully scaled up from the same pilot system, so she investigated further. It did, but it was purchased from a different supplier. Many companies, Victoria's included, establish an ingredient code number system based on internally generated specifications. She discovered that the two corn syrup suppliers used different production processes, but her company's in-house specification system viewed them as identical. In the cookie product, the very minor differences between the two corn syrup sources were confirmed to be the cause of the difference in finished cookie quality.
Little differences can matter.
Night of the Shifting Specs, Part II Hal needed titanium dioxide for his food formulation. His company had been using titanium dioxide x. But when production of his product was moved from one facility to another, the company purchased the y version, since that type was in use in other products made at the new facility. The production line operator noted that the ingredient bag looked different than before, but he ignored the difference, since the new ingredient was permitted in the product specification. Unfortunately, however, the finished product was much darker in color.