Recall Management under the Food Safety Accountability Act

By Brian Giannini

The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved the new Food Safety Accountability Act (FSAA) that would toughen criminal consequences for those who knowingly violate food safety standards. Should the bill pass the full Senate, food manufacturers and retailers must be prepared for the consequences associated with any failure to effectively manage a recall. The bill mandates stricter penalties for corporate executives or other employees who consciously violate food safety procedures. Under the new rules, effective recall management will be the only way that companies can protect both their brands and their employees from the risks associated with product safety issues.

If passed, the bill would increase, from a misdemeanor to a felony, criminal punishments for employees found to have allowed contaminated, adulterated or otherwise harmful food products to be distributed and sold. As Food Safety News reports, the legislation could require prosecutors to pursue prison sentences of “up to 10 years for any individual or corporation that ‘knowingly endangers American lives by contaminating the food supply’ or by knowingly allowing tainted food products into commerce.’”

The full Senate has not taken action on the bill, but the initial vote by the Committee should serve as a strong reminder of why your company needs to take precautionary steps to validate production procedures and verify that your distributors, your testing facilities and your corporate partners are in full food safety compliance.  Even the most junior employee found to have withheld relevant information could call into question your company’s efforts to effectively manage a recall and protect consumers from unsafe food products.

These changes could drastically increase the risk and penalties for a company’s employees. But it is also important to remember that hiding food safety issues and recall information from agencies and consumers has always posed a serious risk of damage to corporate brands. But these risks can be significantly mitigated by careful preparation.

Whether or not the FSAA is finally passed, everyone in the food supply chain must make every effort to make sure that internal communication systems are in place to remind employees at every level that withholding information about potentially tainted food products is dangerous and against company policy. At the same time, companies should do all they can to stay vigilant about testing and checking all their products prior to distribution.

Transparency remains the cornerstone of the relationship between manufacturers and consumers, especially during a recall. Be sure you have the right policies in place now in order to mitigate risks at all levels of recall management. While a recall in and of itself can do serious damage to a brand, stricter corporate penalties would make matters even worse. While a single contamination issue can put your brand at risk, it would be much harder to recover if one of your employees is fined or sentenced to jail time.

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.