Food ERP: Product Recall Best Practices Part III

Food ERP: Lesson Learned on Product Recalls

With the latest recall alerts from Blue Bell Creameries and Sabra’s hummus for listeria contamination, you can really contemplate the total cost accumulated (both product & legal) with the recall process, and how well prepared your organization is if a product recall should occur.    

Damage control!

With a potential product recall just an email or phone call away, regardless of the amount of safe production years, can guarantee that you won’t have one tomorrow. Blue Bell had a spotless reputation for over 108 years (according to the Dallas Morning News) and is now in the course of a total product recall that has early assessments between 4 and 10 million in product expenses alone.  Add with the damage done to their brand, pending lawsuits, that figure will assuredly increase quickly.  

With Sabra, over 30 thousand cases of hummus (according to The Guardian) have been willingly pulled from store shelves signifying massive recall cost, replacement costs, and an impairment to their overall brand reputation.

Large product recalls are a major threat to any manufacturer and makes you ask these questions:

• Do we have a recall procedure in place? So we can efficiently recognize that a recall is necessary.
• How prepared are we? For that one email or phone call that turns into two, that turns into a full blown product recall.
• Are we utilizing the latest technology to track inventory? So we know exactly which products are affected and their current location.
• Have we practiced our recall procedures? So we can act swiftly and effectively when a recall knocks on our door.

The only solution is Thinking Ahead!

Depending on a clean track record is not a reliable game plan in the long run. It’s imperative to study industry best practices for Product Recall Management and RFID for inventory control, be able to learn from recent product recalls by following the FDA or blogs like foodsafetynews.com, and frequently audit your current processes to make sure you compliant and are in the best possible position should it happen to you.

To learn more about Food ERP and the best practices and procedures for food safety and product recalls, please reference these free resources:

• Food Manufacturing Software
• Recall Management
• Consumer Issue Management
• RFID
• Product Recall Webinar
• RFID Webinar
• ERP Insight for Food & Beverage Webinar 

If you have questions about how an improved Food ERP system can help you avoid and manage the event of a product recall, our industry experts are available to help. Please feel free to contact the NexTec Group at 206-505-7980, by EMAIL or visit our website at www.nextecgroup.com. We would be happy to discuss all your options in more detail. At NexTec Group, we’ve been implementing ERP solutions and supporting businesses for more than 20 years.  Our clients are primarily SMBs (small-to-midsized businesses) in industries such as food ERP, food & beverage, manufacturing (process manufacturing), distribution, pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy (oil and gas), and related industries.  

Read more related articles: 

Food ERP: 3 Product Recall Planning Best Practices: Part I

Food ERP: Product Recall Planning Best Practices Part II


Another version of this blog was posted on NexTec's Blog on April 21, 2015:  Another product recall. Are we learning our lessons? by Colin Hanes