Canada Flag United States Flag
Speak to an Expert Careers

No recall plan risks losing food firms millions

From FoodManufacture UK

Nearly 20% of food and drink businesses risk losing many millions of pounds by failing to put in place plans to cope with a product recall, warns new research from law firm Roythornes. The lack of any product recall strategy exposed businesses to potentially massive recall costs and untold reputational damage.

Roythornes’ research among members of the Fresh Produce Consortium, The Food and Drink Forum, the British Frozen Food Federation, the Artisan Food Trail and Tastes of Anglia revealed 18.5% had no product recall procedures in place.

Nearly two thirds (60%) of businesses failed to include product recalls in their contractual agreements with suppliers. A further 20% of participants confirmed a product recall plan was in place but admitted not testing the plan with trial recalls.

The full extent of that reputational damage was revealed in June when food manufacturing giant Nestlé was forced to recall its Maggi noodles, after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ruled that the products were “unsafe and hazardous”. The authority made the judgement after discovering “higher-than-allowed levels of lead” in some products manufactured in India.

The Maggi recall would cost the manufacturer at least £127M ($246M CAD) in direct costs and billions of US dollars in reputational damage, predicted the consultancy firm Brand Finance.

Read the full article here.

Learn more about Tri-Mach Group’s Recall Recovery program here.