Why a Food Manufacturing Industry Recall is Your Worst Nightmare

6/12/2019

Do you know what actually happens in the case of a food manufacturing industry recall? You need to understand why it is absolutely imperative that you take every possible action to avoid a recall.In the case of a food product recall, you will need to need to:

  1. Follow USDA and/or FDA protocol to alert the public and all stores selling your product of the recall. (Learn more about USDA and FDA recall process here.)

  2. Follow USDA and/or FDA protocol to file documentation of your handling of the recall.

  3. Identify exactly which ingredients or what process caused the contamination of product and exactly which batches of product were affected.

  4. Have all recalled product in the field returned or destroyed (in most cases, it is destroyed in the field).

  5. Prove the cause of contamination has been remedied according to regulatory requirements.

  6. Work on repairing your reputation with stores and the public.

  7. Hope you don’t go under and that stores will still sell your product.

This is where good quality controls programs can protect you from a complete disaster. If the co-man or co-packer you are using has top notch traceability documentation in place, you can probably catch the problem while it only affects a handful of stores and a small batch of product. Then you can quietly follow procedure and remedy the problem for the cost of a couple thousand dollars instead of losing your entire business.

In fact, the problem is no longer your problem, but rather, is the co-man, private label manufacturer, or co-packer’s problem. THEY have to deal with the issues at hand, and it is in their best interest to do so swiftly, quietly and with excellent regulatory compliance to protect their business.

Still think it’s not worth it to pay the extra for a co-man or co-packer with quality control programs in place? Now you understand that you have probably gotten lucky thus far, and that it’s not worth taking the risk for the future. Introduce your new food product to the market with assurance, using a reputable co-man or co-packer with top notch quality controls in place.