Product Recall and Withdrawal Procedure

Purpose. Sets the steps for withdrawing or recalling product that is unsafe or does not comply, including tracing, customer notification, regulator notification and product retrieval.

1.Triggers

A recall assessment must start immediately when a critical control point failure is found after product has been dispatched, when a customer complaint or laboratory result indicates a food safety hazard, when labelling is found to be wrong for allergens or dates, or when a regulator or supplier advises a problem. The person who identifies the trigger must tell the Quality and Food Safety Coordinator and the General Manager at once.

2.Recall team

The recall team is the General Manager, the Quality and Food Safety Coordinator, the Processing Manager and the Cold Chain and Sales Manager. The General Manager decides whether the action is a trade withdrawal or a consumer recall in line with the national recall protocol and notifies the food authority and the export regulator where export product is involved.

3.Tracing

The Quality and Food Safety Coordinator must use the Processing Batch and Traceability Register and the Cold Chain and Dispatch Register to identify every batch affected, every carton produced, where each carton was sent and how much remains in stock, within four hours. The trace must be reconciled so that all product is accounted for.

4.Notification

Every customer holding affected product must be contacted by phone and in writing with the product, batch code, reason and the action required. Consumer recalls must use the notice format required by the food authority. A log of every contact and response must be kept.

5.Retrieval and disposal

Affected product must be held, collected or destroyed as directed, and quantities reconciled against the trace. Disposal must be recorded and witnessed. Retrieved product must be quarantined and labelled until disposal.

6.Close out and review

The recall team must review the root cause, corrective actions and the effectiveness of the recall within two weeks and record the outcome. A mock recall must be run at least once a year to test the traceability system.