This is the second in a series of articles on food product recalls.

The risk for all food companies of being affected by a recall is substantial—and to adequately respond to a recall claim is complex and expensive. Companies should always be prepared to prevent a recall from occurring.

Here are seven tips that can help your company prevent and/or manage a food recall:

1. Establish Food Safety Plan using HACCP approach or preventive controls. Always make sure the plan is kept up to date with facility production or product formulation changes to ensure potential risks are controlled.
2. Develop and maintain a written Recall Plan, as well as a Crisis Management Plan. These plans should be reviewed, tested, and updated at least annually. Lessons learned should be recorded and analyzed for possible improvements.
3. Conduct mock traceability exercises over a certain time period. In case anything occurs from within the supply chain, you should be in control of your own ingredients and finished products.
4. Establish a functioning approved supplier program.
5. Utilize third-party audit certification to establish a Food Safety Management System (FSMS), and gain senior management commitment and resources for maintaining the FSMS onsite. This may be in the form of commitment to a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standard (e.g., BRC, SQF, FSSC 22000, IFS).
6. Implement thorough sanitation and hygiene processes.
7. Maintain all related documentation and records.

Read:

• Part 1
• Part 3