The Value of Food Risk Communication and the Recall Process

As part of its continuing effort to focus on food safety issues such as food recall management, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) recently launched the International Center for Excellence in Food Risk Communication. The forum is supported by Health Canada, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN), the National Center for Food Protection and (NCFPD), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The forum serves as a resource for both consumers and companies, providing information about food safety procedures and risk communication protocols, issues at the heart of many food recalls and recall management concerns.

The International Center for Excellence in Food Risk Communication website is devoted to a range of topics associated with food risk, including critical concerns of food manufacturers such as nutrition, modern food production, antibiotic use in livestock, factory farming, and food biotechnology. This discussion extends from a very micro level, such as how our food and nutrition choices play a role in personal health risk, to the macro level of how food producers, journalists, government agencies and health groups can communicate food risks that could potentially affect thousands of individuals.

For example, the forum offers “Best Practices for Effective Risk Communication,” acknowledging that risk communication is a constantly changing process. Companies involved in food safety need to continuously update their crisis communication and recall readiness plans and test them  with recall drills.

The forum advocates on an international level the same principles we often share on this blog. Recalls, especially food recalls, require careful planning. They affect not only the brand in question, but the health of the consumers who rely on safe products.

The forum offers several suggestions for companies managing food and recall risks, including:

• Conducting pre-event planning and preparation activities, such as a recall drill;
• Building positive relationships with key audiences before a crisis occurs so that their support will be at your disposal if you need it;
• Recognizing that the media are a primary channel to the public – one of your most critical audiences; and
• Monitoring a full range of communications platforms in order to be aware of the messages and perceptions being circulated about your company.

While the list is extensive, the resources companies usually have to accomplish these goals are not. Bringing in a recall partner in the earliest stages of planning and maintaining a strong relationship with that partner in the event that your company does need to manage a recall will help ensure that recall execution gets the attention and precision it deserves. Looking back at a number of recent high-profile recalls, the launch of the International Center for Excellence in Food Risk Communication once again places an international spotlight on the issue of food safety and recall execution and offers reminders of the hard work companies must do before a recall in order to achieve the desired result.