Thursday, April 5, 2007
Food Recall systems for unsafe food.

Who needs a food recall system?

Wholesale suppliers, manufacturers, and importers need a food recall system. Reasons for a food recall could include contamination of food by food poisoning bacteria, or by chemicals or foreign matter that could harm someone when the food is eaten.

The purpose of a recall system
A recall system must:
•stop any further distribution and sale of the unsafe product as soon as possible;
•tell the public and the relevant authorities about the problem; and
•effectively retrieve the unsafe food.

A recall system should include the following key features:
•the purpose of a recall and a list of the members of the recall team and their responsibilities;
•a series of steps to guide decisions on the risks associated with the potentially unsafe product;
•a series of steps to guide decisions on the extent of the recall - for example, has the product already reachedthe retail level and been sold to consumers;
•a list of the authorities that are to be told about the recall, for example, the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) and the Commonwealth and State or Territory ministers responsible for health, consumer affairs and fair trading in those States and Territories where the product has been distributed;
•records of where the product has been sent, for example to wholesalers, distribution centres, supermarkets, hospitals and restaurants;
•records of information that will help other businesses and the public to identify and return the food you are recalling, for example, the name of the product, the batch code, the date mark, the reason for the recall, where to return the food and who to contact for more information;
•arrangements for retrieving food returned to supermarkets or other outlets; and
•arrangements to assess the amount of recalled food that has been returned and how much of it is still in the market place.

taken from: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/39997-TF6a.pdf.


she's full (: | 1:50 AM|

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