Food recall plan

The purpose of the food recall is to remove the food that has been distributed by the manufacturers. The main purpose of the food recall plan is to protect the consumers and their health by removing the unsafe food. Apart from which, the food manufacturers may suffer a big loss if actions taken are slow, which cause human deaths and incur other legal cases. An effective recall plan would ensure efficient, immediate identification, and rapid destruction of unsafe foods.. This requires a food business to carry out an assessment of the potential risks resulting from the problem with the food, in other words-risk assessment. Risk assessments should only be carried out by competent technical people. If in doubt, food businesses are advised to consult technical advice and/or the local Public Health Unit and/or NZFSA.

The food recall plan involves the business policy and it should be well planned and well written. The food recall plan constitutes of the following elements:
• Reference to the product recall policy
• List of member(s) of the recall team
• Definition of roles and responsibilities for product recall
• Contact names and details including home telephone or mobile numbers
• Definitions of the two classifications of a product recall (see Levels of Product Recall)
• A product recall decision tree
• Mechanisms of notification of a product recall
• Reference to the company’s traceability system
• Guidelines for media contact
• Sample press releases
• Sample product recall notices
• A product recall plan testing procedure
• A product recall review procedure

In order to ensure an effective recall plan with immediate actions, the responsibility of the recall coordinator is very important. The recall coordinator requires the knowledge of all aspects of the operation, which begins from the production, linking to quality, sales, purchasing, marketing, sales, legal services, distribution and supply chain, consumer affairs and public relations. The recall team needs to develop the recall plan, manage the maintenance and testing of recall plan, update the recall plan, direct the product recall activities, recommend changes to minimize the need to remove unsafe foods from the market.

The product recall team should aim to collect the following minimum data set on a suspected food safety incident:
• Product name
• Product description
• Batch codes involved
• Quantity of product implicated
• Distribution details
• Whether the product has been sold to consumers
• The nature of the product fault (hazard).
This information should be verified and fed into the risk assessment process that in turn informs a risk management decision on the level of product recall (i.e. Recall or Withdrawal) and the urgency/resources required.