Prevention is better than cure: the role of proficiency testing in limiting the risk of food recalls

The direct cost to a company for a single recall is estimated to average $10 million

The three main causes of food recalls

For product recalls in the food and feed sector, the top three most common causes are:

• Allergens - incidents and recalls as a result of undeclared allergens or excessive allergen content accounted for 9% of UK reported food incidents in 2017.

• Foreign bodies - a range of foreign bodies are routinely identified in foods, with metal, plastic and glass accounting for around half of the incidents recorded.

• Pathogenic Organisms - Salmonella - A 2006 outbreak in chocolate that led to more than 40 people falling ill resulted in Cadbury being fined £1m for food and hygiene offences.

Be it a result of low production standards, issues with supply chains, or contaminated ingredients, there is much that can be done to limit these effects.

The role of proficiency testing in limiting the risk of food recalls.

However, our focus is on the role of proficiency testing. By downloading our whitepaper, you will find more detail for each cause of food and feed recalls cited above, and come away with methods to combat them.