There are various reasons for food or beverage product recalls and whilst the industry seems to be making some encouraging progress, product recalls due to undeclared allergens, microbial contamination and the presence of foreign matter are still very common in Australia.
Improvements to safety standards have resulted in food recalls dropping to 80 in 2021 from 109 in 2020; what else can be done to improve the process of recalling food products for all stakeholders, including manufacturers, consumers and the Government regulator?
- Comply with all food safety regulations
All food businesses need to comply with food safety and labelling requirements and businesses that do not comply can be subject to enforcement action by various regulatory bodies, of which there are a few.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) is responsible for negotiating, assessing and monitoring the effectiveness of voluntary recalls for food products and communicating the potential safety risks to consumers. However, since October 2022, most food-related recalls will not be published by the ACCC on the Product Safety Australia website.
The industry regulator, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), will now announce its own recalls and has developed the Food Industry Recall Protocol, which provides guidance for food businesses on developing a written Food Recall Plan.
It's crucial that food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers are compliant with all their regulatory responsibilities governed by FSANZ, the ACCC, as well as their own State bodies, such as Food Authority NSW. A compliance officer or team should ensure they adhere to all the regulations and laws.
- The food industry needs to take on responsibility for recalls
No food and beverage manufacturer ever wants to face a recall situation. However, when one does arise, the ability to not only locate the source of the fault but take immediate action can make a massive difference to the business from a financial and reputational standpoint.
The food recalls transition to the regulator has shifted the responsibility back to manufacturers and suppliers to manage any food and beverage recalls. This includes communicating the risks to all their affected customers since it will now be more challenging for people to find all relevant product recalls in one place.
Many food and beverage manufacturers now voluntarily initiate their own recalls after becoming aware that one or more of their products presents a safety risk. If food products are identified as being unsafe by consumers, product recalls may also be initiated by the ACCC or FSANZ if there is a suspected or confirmed illness or injury due to consumption.
Manufacturers need to be able to perform a full product recall quickly and efficiently by rapidly identifying and retrieving potentially defective goods from customers by initiating their Food Recall Plan. This should be incorporated into their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and will provide instant access to all the critical information required to trace any suspect products. It supplies the necessary information to identify, isolate and action the activities that must occur within the predetermined recall time limit.
- Traceability capabilities must be implemented
To be able to test their food recall plan through regular “mock recalls”, Australian food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers must ensure they have implemented comprehensive traceability capabilities.
The food industry also needs to be able to detail exactly what’s going into the products being manufactured and therefore, traceability is becoming increasingly important for all players in the entire food and beverage supply chain, including distributors, retailers and restaurants.
A sound ERP system can quarantine or place products on hold, trace backwards and forwards, report on affected products and deal with customer complaints and initiate returns. It will minimise risk before a recall and mitigate damage during it when time is of the essence.
Food and beverage manufacturers need to be able to trace each individual component, raw material or ingredient that makes up a product, whenever and wherever it is in the world. A fully integrated traceability system enables the ERP to trace, identify and report on every part of the supply chain in real-time. And with built-in product recall and mock recall capabilities.
- Avoiding product recalls in the first place
Recalling defective, unsafe, or contaminated products helps to reduce liability and protect customers’ safety, but at the same time, recalls are damaging to a company’s reputation. They also harm the company’s bottom line and every effort should be made to avoid them altogether.
Sales can suffer, and the company incurs costs associated with notifying consumers that they may have purchased a recalled product, staffing contact centres to handle related customer inquiries and reports, and reimbursing consumers who qualify for a refund or a replacement product.
Avoiding product recalls requires a multi-prong approach to safety and quality assurance (QA) monitoring, including thoroughly vetting suppliers, maintaining strict internal QA standards, and conducting product inspections throughout the supply chain.
If a recall is the only option, having the right ERP system in place will streamline the recall process, making it as efficient and fast as possible to track, isolate and eliminate. Lastly, having business insurance in place can help minimise the impact of a recall by covering the costs to investigate complaints, communicate the recall, collect, repair and dispose of the products, lost profits, legal fees and any legal penalties.
Roger Landman is head of product management for SYSPRO.
