July 23, 2019

Before the Recall

Proactively Preventing Food Recalls in the First Place

By Joe Sheeran

Imagine this: a major food recall was just made public. There is an immediate consumer response to purge any and all goods produced by the brand—regardless of the fact that the company released a statement identifying the affected lot numbers. As a result, millions of perfectly good food products are wasted. In many recall scenarios, products are disposed of not just because of consumer concern, but because companies are unable to isolate with precision which food items were contaminated, and often don’t release an affected lot number for the compromised product. But what if food companies had the power to identify exactly where and why the food supply chain went wrong?

In recent months, common household items—such as Lay’s barbecue potato chips and Pillsbury flour—that are produced by trusted global brands have been recalled. Even Advantage Infant Formula Milk Based Powder, which is crucial for the health and nourishment of infants, was removed from Walmart’s shelves due to the presence of foreign metal matter in the formula, affecting 23,388 containers of baby food.

As food recalls rise, and yes, they are in fact on the rise, it becomes ever-more important to develop a proactive recall resolution strategy, starting with isolating and eliminating contamination in real time throughout the supply chain, rather than focusing on post-recall damage control.

Now let’s go back to that initial scenario. What could a food company have done before the fact to prevent a recall from occurring in the first place?

The Label

When Pillsbury flour was recalled for potential salmonella exposure, more than 12,000 units of flour were removed from shelves and discarded. What was likely a singular error that impacted a small quantity of products instead resulted in thousands of wasted goods and the degradation of the brand’s perception.

Oftentimes, a barrier to isolating and eliminating compromises is a failure to document and track goods on an individual basis. That’s where the security label comes in. By affixing a tamper-proof, serialized identity to every ingredient, product, and batch in circulation, brands ensure that each item has its own unique identity. Tamper-proof labels enable security checkpoints throughout the manufacturing process in the form of scanning. Label scanning can be leveraged to document that a given product has undergone key steps related to proper handling and QA control. As a result, operators can receive real time alerts of anomalous activities, isolating and disposing of products that are nonconforming before they ever leave factory doors.

The Record

In many instances, recalls simply stem from uncertainty. Therefore, equally important to its tamper-proof label is each product’s corresponding digital record. By maintaining a record of every ingredient, product, and batch in a Blockchain-enabled database, companies can affirm universal compliance with relevant FDA standards and food safety protocols.

By serving up highly detailed information for any item with a single scan, a product’s digital record prevents product recalls by answering critical questions related to how an item was produced or handled. This ensures that any product recall represents a real threat to consumer wellbeing, rather than resulting from an unresolved question related to the manufacturing process.

The Data

The tamper-proof label and digital record proactively prevent product recalls by spotting anomalies and resolving questions in real time. But what about proactively preventing recalls in the future? Enter aggregated data. By reviewing product related data in aggregate from throughout the manufacturing operation, operators can close off critical quality or safety gaps before they ever lead to a contaminated product and resulting recall.

Using aggregated data, manufacturers can develop best-in-class initiatives to enhance safety and quality management, then ensure the adoption of those initiatives in every corner of the manufacturing operation. The result? An operation whose very culture works to eliminate product recalls for good.

The Label, the Record, and the Data, All in One Forensic Traceability Solution

The fear of a food recall is enough to keep food and beverage executives up at night—but the good news is that many recalls are preventable. With the right solution, operators can finally take a proactive approach to product recall prevention. It all starts with Ashton Potter.

With nearly a century of experience delivering high security printing to the world’s most complex supply chains, Ashton Potter applies its legacy of product traceability and security to the food and beverage sector to bring new effectiveness to recall prevention and resolution. Discover how our ProLinc^™ forensic traceability, tamper-proof security labels, and white glove integration services can solve the recall issue for your food and beverage operation today.

Tags: Food & Beverage, food recalls, proactive recall resolution