Food Focus November 2008
Taking food away before it bites you
A statutory recall may not always be the quickest or most effective means of getting unsafe food products off people’s shelves. Several actions can be taken – which one depends on the situation and its urgency
If a food needs to be withdrawn from sale, because it is unsafe, unfit to eat, or contaminated, the following actions (or combination of actions) can be taken:
• NZFSA issues a statutory recall under section 40 of the Food Act
• the company initiates a recall of the product with assistance from NZFSA
• the company initiates withdrawal of the product with assistance from NZFSA.
Most recalls are made under the Food Act, although two other Acts (the Animal Products Act and the Wine Act) also give NZFSA the power to require a recall.
A recall involves removing unsafe food from the distribution chain extending through to food already sold to consumers, and hence the public needs to be informed. A withdrawal stops at the point at which food is sold to consumers – only suppliers and retailers will be involved.
A statutory recall order relates to a particular food, preferably identified by a batch number, supplied by known suppliers (importers, manufacturers or retailers) to whom the recall notice can be directed. Such detailed information is required since the public needs to be able to distinguish between foods that are safe or not safe – one can of the same brand-name baked beans looks like another, only the batch number will differ.
A recall order will be served on the food business, which is then expected to prepare a food recall notice and communicate it to consumers. A recall advertisement will usually be published in newspapers and may also be communicated through the supplier’s or retailer’s own communication channels (eg, a point of sale notice). The notice could be broadcast locally or nationwide depending on how widely the product has been distributed.
In New Zealand, statutory recalls are infrequent because industry has been prepared to act quickly and is aware of the consequences if it doesn’t. (If a business knowingly sells unsafe food it faces the prospect of prosecution.)
For both company-initiated recalls and statutory recalls, a Food Act officer works alongside the company. After having worked with the company to complete a risk assessment to determine the scope of the recall, they agree on the formatting and wording of the recall notice and verify that sufficient coverage of the messaging has occurred. Other options can be considered at this stage including supermarket shelf notices. At the completion of the recall the Food Act officer completes an audit of the recall against criteria specified in NZFSA guidelines.
A company-initiated withdrawal is when suppliers remove product from their shelves or storehouses before it has been sold and, therefore, a public notice is not needed to alert consumers.
Number and type of company-initiated food recalls in New Zealand between 2001 and August 2008
Privileged statements
NZFSA has authority under the Food Act 1981, to issue privileged statements. A privileged statement may be used when the public needs to be protected. There may be a relationship between a recall (statutory or company-initiated) and a privileged statement. Both are public statements.
The following factors influence the decision to make a privileged statement:
• the need for urgency – in a situation where it is imperative that the public is informed with the absolute minimum of delay (a recall may follow the issuing of a privileged statement)
• where the supplier of the product(s) is for whatever reason failing to manage a recall
• where the supplier of the product(s) cannot be identified or contacted, and the situation requires the public to be informed without delay.
Making sure recall notices get noticed
Typically, food recalls are advertised in newspapers in a standard format. NZFSA has traditionally relied on newspaper advertisements to inform the public, rather than other methods such as website notifications, email alerts or point of sale notices. Until 2007, NZFSA had no way of knowing with any certainty whether the messages were reaching their intended audiences through newspaper advertising alone.
To see how well this type of advertising was working, NZFSA contracted UMR Research to conduct a phone survey in May 2007, 10 days after a national consumer recall of a well-known brand of breakfast cereals.
The survey has provided some good baseline information that will allow NZFSA to investigate other ways of getting the message across in the future, while continuing with newspaper advertising. For instance, while not requiring these other approaches to be used, NZFSA has added templates for shop or point-of-sale notices and press releases to the recall page on its website. These are in addition to the template for newspaper advertisements already provided.
Subscriptions to email alerts from NZFSA’s website to consumers are also increasing as users realise the benefit of being notified as soon as a recall goes out. This service started in 2006.
More information about recalls (including any current company-initiated recalls)
Recall information for manufacturers with advertising, point of sale and press release templates
Making a food complaint
It can be distressing to bite into an appetising food only to find something is wrong with it
If you, as a consumer find a foreign object in food or think it smells or tastes off, you should make a complaint as soon as possible to either the manufacturer, NZFSA or your local Public Health Unit if you fall ill (see below for details). If there is a serious health risk, further immediate action (such as a recall) will need to be taken. In the meantime:
• avoid eating any remaining product
• keep perishable foods refrigerated or frozen as appropriate
• try to keep any labelling or packaging from the affected food
• make a note of when and where the food was bought, how it was handled and stored and when it was first opened
• retain any foreign objects found in the food.
Complaints help provide NZFSA with useful information about food safety issues that need to be addressed and identify any trends that may need to be investigated. Action, such as recalls, seizures and prosecutions, will be taken proportionate to the degree of risk and severity of the issue.
Consumers can alert NZFSA by phoning the consumer helpline 0800 693 721.
Contact details for public health units can be found here