New Tools for Withdrawing or Recalling Unsafe Food

March 2019

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have developed guidance to help food businesses carry out food safety withdrawals and recalls with greater ease and effectiveness. The Anaphylaxis Campaign were involved in the development of the guidance as members of Food Recalls Steering Group and one of the Working Groups, along with representatives from local authorities and the food industry.

The guidance explains what the law requires and how to comply. It also includes best practice on traceability system and how to inform consumers of a food recall.

You can access the Guidance on Food Traceability, Withdrawals and Recalls within the UK Food Industry here and access all the other resources via the FSA website here, including an editable allergy alert template for point of sale and a root cause analysis e-learning course.

It is best practice that when a food is being recalled due to allergy issues that food business operators notify the relevant patient support organisations, including the Anaphylaxis Campaign.

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Upon receipt of a notification of a food recall we can help inform food allergic individuals on issues that may pose a risk to their health by;

• Providing information of the food recall on our website
• Publishing information about the food recall on our social media channels
• Issuing an email or text alert to signed up members

To notify the Anaphylaxis Campaign about a food recall relating to allergies please send relevant details to the Information Team via info@anaphylaxis.org.uk or call 01252 542029

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A food incident occurs when concerns around the safety or quality of food (and/or feed) may require action to protect consumers.

Incidents broadly fall into two categories:

• contamination of food or animal feed in processing, distribution, retail and catering
• environmental pollution incidents such as fires, chemical/oil spills and radiation leaks

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• A withdrawal is when unsafe food is removed from the supply chain before it has reached consumers.
• A recall is when unsafe food is removed from the supply chain and consumers are advised to take appropriate action, for example to return or dispose of the unsafe food.

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