Posts from the "Crisis Management" category
AU: Electronic recall system receives HACCP certification
Food Processing: GS1 Australia’s electronic product recall notification management system has received certification from HACCP Australia. The Recall service — designed to minimise the impact and cost of food and beverage products recalled and withdrawn from the supply chain — has been certified as ‘effective and suitable for businesses that operate a HACCP based Food Safety Programme’.
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UK: A detailed [product recall] plan of action
The Business Continuity Institute:Â As product recalls increasingly dominate the headlines, Vince Shiers explains why careful planning is critical to ensuring companies are primed to respond no matter what the circumstances.
Product recalls are never far from the headlines. In our experience, if a company doesn’t have a recall plan before a recall incident, they will make sure they have one afterwards.
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US: Product recalls rise with better detection and fewer suppliers
New York Times: Frozen peas that could make you sick. A water heater that might explode. Cars with steering wheels that were prone to fail and cause a crash. Those are just a few of the thousands of products that manufacturers have recalled this year — and the deluge shows no sign of slowing. Across almost every product category, the scope and complexity of recalls are on the rise.
Read Article →UK: Silence is far from golden
The Business Continuity Institute: Farzad Henareh explains how an effectively managed product recall event can serve to enhance brand loyalty, but preparation and constant communication are key.
In the past, companies have been reluctant to enter the recall process, worried that their brand will suffer by being associated with a problem. In fact, the opposite is now true, and if a recall is handled efficiently and quickly customers will understand the situation and may even be impressed by the quality of customer service.
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US: Take those food-outbreak headlines with a grain of salt
Fortune.com: Is anything safe to eat these days? The regular flow of news on how pathogens in our food are making us sick—or, in the most extreme cases, even killing us—might make it seem like we’re taking a big risk every time we sit down for a meal or a snack.
But all those headlines—stay with me here—might actually be a good thing. Yes, it seems counter-intuitive. But in reality, we may not be facing more cases of food-borne illness but instead getting better at finding them and tracing them back to the source.
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AU: Frozen berries still on the shelf after Hep A scare a year ago
Sydney Morning Herald: In the middle of February last year, the frozen berry lost some of its sweetness. Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services decreed – very publicly – that the popular Nanna’s Frozen Mixed Berry 1kg bag had been linked to multiple cases of hepatitis A.
While Patties Foods is getting out of berries, it’s not out of trouble. Law firm Slater & Gordon remains committed to action they started on behalf of more than 20 clients.
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Take a deep breath and reflect on the hep A saga, suggests Richard Bennett
I’ve given a few presentations over recent years about crisis management, starting with the need to prevent a crisis as much as possible by having the right attitude towards food safety backed up with the necessary systems. I put attitude first for a reason.
The next stage is to be prepared. Despite the best prevention systems and intentions, glitches happen and you might find yourself in need of a plan to manage the unthinkable. Good prevention and preparation will make all the difference to response and recovery. There’s plenty of evidence to show that resilience – the ability to bounce back – is almost directly related to how you respond, which is directly related to what you have done to prevent and prepare.
Read Article →EU: Growers and industry hit by $1.3 bn in losses due to 2011 outbreak of E. Coli
Food Safety News: The World Health Organization (WHO) has totaled up some economic costs of the 2011 outbreak of the rare and deadly E. coli O104:H4 centered on Northern Europe. Farmers and industries lost $1.3 billion, and emergency aid provided to 22 European states cost another $236 million, according to WHO.
The novel E. coli strain was the cause of the May through June 2011 outbreak that saw 3,950 people infected, with 53 deaths blamed on the deadly pathogen. All but two of the deaths occurred in Germany.
Public health officials in Germany initially thought the source of the contamination was cucumbers imported from Spanish greenhouses, but that theory proved incorrect. It was a mistake that Spanish growers said cost them $200 million a week. Russia banned imports of all EU fresh produce in June 2011.
Click here to read the full story at Food Safety News
Food safety expert says frozen berries hepatitis crisis a ‘wake-up call’ for fresh produce supply chain
Melbourne, AU. — A food safety expert has urged companies across the fresh fruit, vegetable and nutsupply chain to redouble their food safety efforts in the face of an outbreak of foodborne illness attributed to hepatitis A virus (HAV), which has left at least 10 people infected in Australia.
Richard Bennett, Technology Manager at the Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia-New Zealand (FPSC), has authored a fact sheet to help both industry and consumers to understand the food safety issues and dispel some of the myths associated with the current frozen berries hepatitis crisis.
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