Effective Recall Management Poses Challenges

By Mike Rozembajgier

Before allowing you to close out a recall, the regulatory agency that oversees your industry will evaluate your recall management, compliance, and effectiveness. While getting through the process with no injuries, illnesses or deaths being linked to one of your products may seem like success, overall recall effectiveness will be the standard against which the regulatory agency, lawmakers and even consumer advocacy organizations will ultimately judge your recall.  Regulators will want proof that you conducted proper recall notification, pulled every affected product from store shelves in a timely manner, accurately processed recalled products, and provided the agency with recall documentation and reports at every step along the way.

In order to identify the measures manufacturers and retailers should consider when managing a recall, Solution Designs and Stericycle ExpertRECALL commissioned a white paper that examined the real world challenges associated with recalls. The paper identified four components of recall execution that are likely to present challenges to any company:

• Recall Notification: Regulators, vendors, suppliers and users must be informed of potentially defective or dangerous products in a timely manner.

• Product Retrieval: A company conducting a recall must rely on all other manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and consumers involved to participate in the process in order to for a recall to be effective.

• Product Processing: Product processing must be accurate and in accordance with federal, state and local regulations to make sure that defective or dangerous products are not only removed from commerce, but also that they do not re-enter the supply chain.

• Recall Compliance and Recall Documentation: All recall activity must be well documented and reported to the proper government agency on a regular basis in order to close out the recall.

With new rules pending in major regulatory agencies that could alter the recall process in specific industries, companies cannot be over-prepared for a potential recall. But even the best prepared company can struggle with recall compliance. This is understandable. A company’s core competency is making and selling products, not pulling them from store shelves. A recall is all about reversing the flow of affected products, either back to their original source or to their ultimate destruction in an efficient, effective  manner within regulatory requirements.

The Solution Designs white paper, which can be downloaded here, is yet another source the companies can reference when reviewing and testing their recall plans. Because it is not a matter of if you will need to manage a recall, but when.

Stericycle ExpertRECALL™ is the industry leader in recall logistics and regulatory compliance for consumer product, pharmaceutical, medical device, juvenile product, and food and beverage recalls. ExpertRECALL’s professionals are experts in recall management who can help you streamline the entire product recall process.