Do’s and Don’ts of a Food Recall

Mother Earth now has a real-time inventory of raw product received, which farm it originated from, and a final count

of inventory. Also because the company sells not just to distributors, but also directly to restaurants and grocery chains, its across-the-board system is easy to manage. In addition to being well equipped to handle a recall, it can now fill orders quicker and has improved its overall operational efficiency.

Remember there can also be serious consequences without end-to-end traceability. Many in the industry vividly remember the case of the cantaloupes recalled in September 2011 because they tested positive for the Listeria bacteria. The fruit was linked to at least 28 deaths and dozens of illnesses—and the grower did not have labels on their cases. Had the melons been labeled by carton—or individually—the recall that involved 17 states may have been limited further by revealing the exact field from which the infected melons were harvested and determining where those melons were shipped. Pinpointed accuracy of traceability has the potential to reduce confusion and avoid category-wide fear among consumers.

Don’t become complacent.

As history has shown, it’s never wise to assume you are immune to a recall just because you are not considered “high risk.” While a company may not have been linked to a food safety emergency before, this doesn’t guarantee it won’t be in the future, or even that its products have always been completely safe in the past. The sources of most food related illnesses are never identified. For example, for every one confirmed case of fresh food-caused salmonellosis, at least 29 others go unreported, according to the CDC.

An electronic-based system will allow companies to eliminate manual entry errors and precisely track where products go once they leave their possession. For retailers, more precise tracking can prove to customers that they are addressing their food safety concerns. Consumers lose confidence in retailers that sell unsafe products; some even refuse to purchase fresh food from them again if a food safety emergency has negatively affected their health. More precise recalls cannot only limit health damages in the future, but reduce customer attrition caused by loss of consumer confidence.

Think about traceability from the consumer’s perspective. She now has more access to information about what she and her family buy and eat than ever before by simply having the ability to look up product information on her smartphone or scan a barcode with an app. As a result, food manufacturers, growers, distributors, retailers, and other trading partners are becoming more sensitive to consumers’ higher expectations and are working to implement standards-based traceability processes to not only enhance their food safety program, but also to minimize the potential damage associated with a recall.

Fernandez is the vice president of retail grocery and foodservice for GS1 US. Reach her at [email protected].