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Valuable Information for Companies in the Food Industry |
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Welcome to PSV Food Safety Consultants
Welcome to our newsletter. It delivers important news and information, as well as identifying useful resources that can enhance your organization's competitiveness in the food industry. Our focus is on helping you to achieve and maintain an approved GFSI food safety certification. In doing so, we typically become a valued business partner to our clients. |
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How Sound is your Recall Plan?
Recall Plans are essential to food safety programs. A food recall includes any corrective action by a company needed to protect consumers from potentially adverse effects of a contaminated, adulterated, or misbranded product.
 A documented Recall Plan indicates how an organization will track and recall its products. The system should enable the company to trace back one step and trace forward one step in the event of a recall. The plan should include procedures, recall team roles with contact information, and ready-to-use example documents such as press releases, customer contact forms, product reconciliation forms, etc.
Negative publicity can be minimized if a food producer demonstrates a rapid, effective response followed by enhanced systems to prevent the problem from occurring in the future.
GFSI-benchmarked food safety certifications require traceability and product recall capabilities. Most require not only documented plans but also proof of having conducted mock recalls to verify these plans.
Recently, publicity has increased surrounding recalls of products like peanut butter, ground beef, milk, spinach, and pet food. Companies must establish measures to effectively mitigate recall risk, or, if a recall is necessary, to manage the process as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The Food Safety Modernization Act strengthens enforcement by granting the FDA and USDA capabilities that include ordering recalls, requiring that all products be traceable, detaining and destroying unsafe food, and applying civil fines to those organizations that break laws.
When a complaint or notification is received, a tested Recall Plan provides guidelines and eliminate mistakes made under stress when determining what actions to take. With a traceability system and a well-conceived plan, a recall is more likely to be successful and less expensive.
To ensure preparedness for a product recall, it is strongly recommended that those in the food industry work with knowledgeable food safety consultants to develop or verify a food safety quality management system. |
