Operations | by Judy Kneiszel
When a food product is recalled, every minute counts in getting the word out, especially if the product in question poses a significant human health risk. An efficient notification system is a must for quick-serve restaurants, but exactly how individual operators get the word out varies.
To keep abreast of recalls, operators can monitor the Web site of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Go to FDA.gov and click on Recalls & Safety Alerts.
While the FDA does not order recalls, it does act as a clearinghouse for recalls issued by manufacturers or distributors. A simpler way to keep abreast of recalls is to sign up for e-mail notifications from the FDA Web site. The agency also recently announced it is providing recall information via Twitter. (Twitter is a free micro-blogging site that allows posts of up to 140 characters called “tweets.”) A user signed up at the FDA’s Twitter Web address for urgent product recalls gets a tweet every time a new product recall is added.
Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspects and regulates meat, poultry products, and eggs, it’s wise to sign up for its recall e-mail notification as well. Both can be accessed at Recalls.gov.
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) suggests that when operators learn a food manufacturer has recalled a product, the first step should be to find out the reason for the recall and whether items they have in stock are among those being recalled. Products can be recalled for a variety of reasons, from bacteria contamination to inaccurate ingredient labeling. The next step, the association says, is to identify and segregate the recalled items on hand. Once that is done, operators should contact the manufacturer to determine whether to return recalled items or throw them away. Operators are also encouraged to ask for refunds.
High-Tech Recall Solutions
Quick-serves with multiple stores can rely on high-tech solutions to help with recall notification. Companies like Steton Technology Group and BellTower Technologies have created automated product-recall communication systems.
Steton’s Immediate Recall Communication software has a customized interface, often called a “drillable dashboard.” The software allows multiunit operators to home in on a specific store or brand in a specific region that is being affected by a recall.
“We set up a workflow so we have communication with a person of responsibility at each location,” says David Baker, director of food-industry solutions for Utah-based Steton. “When a quick-serve needs to have a recall communicated, they can reach out to all locations immediately and have them pull their stock.”
The Steton recall system starts with an e-mail to a designated person at each quick-serve location. That person then acknowledges receiving the information and goes to a Web site where he indicates how much of the recalled product the store has, where it is, and the form it’s in.
“This provides real-time data for those at the corporate level,” Baker says. “They know which restaurants have reported, how much of the recalled product there is, and where it is.”
The Web site also provides instructions on what restaurants should be looking for and ways to keep track of how many units of the product were sent back or destroyed.
If no one responds to the e-mail, the system will continue attempting to reach the primary contact, and possibly a second tier of contacts, through a variety of means including e-mails, phone calls, and text messages.
“If someone doesn’t respond, the system escalates through a number of other contacts, and the restaurant will get an alert saying a particular unit is not responding, take manual action,” Baker says.
At BellTower Technologies, the phone is the primary means of communicating recalls. The company’s Instant Recall Telephone System is like an old-fashioned telephone tree but with “an ironclad audit trail” and multi-lingual capabilities, according to company founder and CEO Michael Martin.
“When a quick-serve becomes aware of a problem, it wants to handle it as quickly and efficiently as it can with minimal disruption,” Martin says. “The companies have the database and know who has the product. They call us and tell us who to contact and the information on the product to be pulled—whether to destroy or quarantine it—and any special instructions on cleaning.”
He says with the old manual phone tree, it’s impossible to know who has been contacted and if the message being relayed is consistent.
“With our system, our team works with the client to customize the message,” Martin says. “We write the script for the phone call and the accompanying e-mail that may have an attachment to print off and post on the loading-dock door. There may also be a text message to all management that the phone call is coming. The script is different for each customer.”
Martin says that when the contacts receive a call, they can rewind it and listen again if they want.
“The message will say something like, ‘If you are the manager on duty, press 1; if you understand and can comply within an hour, press 2,’” he says. “This way it’s known in real time who has been reached and who can comply.
The contacts are also given a toll-free number to call to provide an update on the quantity of the recalled product they have pulled.
“In a short time—hours, not days—we have real-time data,” Martin says. “If anyone is unreachable, management can manually follow up. This isn’t just throwing a message to the wall and seeing if it sticks, people are engaged with it.”
The software company FoodLogiQ is in the process of launching a different kind of recall notification solution called mobilemarQit. The mobile messaging solution uses a combination of printed labels and a textable short code that allow access to information to restaurant operators and consumers about the products, including recalls notifications, via text messaging.
“MobilemarQit is a six-digit mobile messaging code, like the short codes used when people vote for their favorite contestants on shows like ‘American Idol,’” says FoodLogiQ Vice President of Sales and Marketing Kerry Farrell. “Restaurants can go to our Web site and order product labels that enable traceability through the entire chain,” Farrell says. “By converting the product information into a mobilemarQit code, growers through to retailers can track items directly to their source by using a mobile phone.”
In the event of a product recall, restaurants can be notified immediately with a simple text message.
The restauranst only receive traceback and recall information related to products they have actually purchased, so they are not overwhelmed by information about products they don’t use like in generic recall notification services.