Product Recall Consultancy

RQA Europe can help manufacturers of food and other consumer goods set-up, develop, and test recall procedures including the training of incident management teams.

RQA provides a broad range of services in this area including:

Initial Recall Management Consultation
Recall Plan Development
Recall Plan Optimisation
Recall Simulation Exercises
Product Recall Training
Incident Response

Initial Recall Management Consultation

If a company has not yet prepared a recall management procedure, and needs advice and direction on how to start the process, RQA will assign an expert recall consultant to visit the main manufacturing site or head office to outline what should be included in a recall procedure. A timetable will be developed with the company to work towards the production of a recall plan.

Recall Plan Review

An RQA consultant will carry out a desktop review of existing recall procedures and provide a summary report detailing specific recommendations for improvements. This is done against industry best practice and considers the British Retail Consortium's Product Recall Guidelines. This can be initiated by existing recall procedures being e-mailed or faxed to RQA.

On-Site Recall Systems Assessment

An RQA consultant would visit a client on-site (Head office and/or production site) to provide advice specifically relating to how recall systems can work "on the ground". During the visit the consultant will challenge some of the existing recall systems (contact lists, team responsibilities etc.) to see if there are areas of the procedures that need to be enhanced and updated.

Throughout the visit the consultant is able to give practical advice on how recall procedures can be improved.

Recall Simulation Exercises

This simulated incident is customised to your business and industry sector. It typically involves mock calls from consumers, "visits" from government authorities, "contact" from the media and the requirement for rapid traceability. Actual codes are selected from retail along with a realistic scenario for a recall crisis.

This is a thorough test of the recall procedures as well as the Recall Management Team itself

Product Recall Training

As part of recall readiness, RQA offers one day training courses that are designed to be informative, practical and by using group exercises, it will also put delegates under pressure to solve typical recall scenarios.

The course covers, new EC legislation on recall, traceability and allergens, recall statistics, costs and how to prepare an effective recall / crisis management plan. There are also real case studies to evaluate as well as a simulated recall incident with role playing where each delegate will be a member of the recall team.

This is critically important with respect to the new EC 178 legislation that was effective from 1st January 2005. RQA offers public and customised "in company" courses.

Click here to find out what others have said about our Recall Training Course.

Incident response

RQA offers 24/7 support to food manufacturers who need advice during a recall crisis. Advice may include who should be informed (authorities, customers etc), latest legislation, help on testing etc. This may be over the telephone or an expert can visit your site.

Consider RQA as an extension to your crisis team.