New product recall system for food and consumer product industries

Feb 2 2010

FoodTrack Inc., an industry leader that provides early and pre-incident advisories for recalls, outbreaks and similar events that adversely impact the food and consumer product industries, announced today the development of a new, patent pending product recall system designed to mitigate risk, protect consumer health and improve the effectiveness of the product recall process. Available later this year, Recall Control™ is slated to become the most comprehensive product recall system available.

The Recall Control™ Platform is a real-time, bi-directional, interactive gateway that provides multi-tiered recall notification and lifecycle management for the food and consumer products industries.  It is designed to reach the most remote corners of the supply chain on a global basis and provides a cost-effective means for industry-wide participation to ensure compliance.

Product Removal Time Shortened

Presently, product recalls can take weeks to execute due to the complexity of the global supply chain, the sheer volume of trading partners involved and the many disparate systems found within distribution channels. When recall information normally moves downstream, what can be thousands of affected trading partners need to individually contact their respective stores or distributors to remove products from shelves or distribution. Sending confirmations of removal back upstream can be equally challenging as data trickles in at a snail's pace.

Now, via a single integrated platform and customizable Recall Control Form containing pertinent data relating directly to a specific trading partner, Recall Control™ places a recalling firm and its trading partners in an environment that provides real-time on-screen desktop notification, dynamic progress reports and other proprietary automated response tools to accomplish in days what could otherwise take weeks.

This otherwise daunting task is achieved via a proprietary client-side software application that can be customized based on a company's own personal needs. The software not only integrates with a company's own legacy software systems but when a recall is executed by a recalling firm, the platform's publishing tool enables instant upload to the web-enabled Recall Control Platform.

System-at-a-Glance

When a recalling firm enters or drags data into the Recall Control Form, it can be sent selectively or via a blanket notification that simultaneously uploads to the online Recall Control Platform. This same data moves downstream and integrates with real time onscreen dashboards where individual trading partners easily input status information on the fly.  As updated information is entered, the data automatically moves back upstream to their own trading partners or suppliers, as well as to the original recalling firm and supervising regulatory agencies.

What this accomplishes is a fully integrated, user-friendly automated response process where every trading partner is in the loop. For regulatory agencies, this will mean an enormous savings as resources for Federal, State and Local effectiveness checks can be more efficiently utilized.  

Industry-wide Participation

For industry, product recalls equate to billions of dollars in lost revenue between the cost of removing products, internal staff time, and litigation proceedings that generally follow. By shortening the lifespan of tainted or affected products remaining on shelves, both industry and consumers benefit.

To ensure virtually 100 percent participation, via required registration among trading partners, the Recall Control Platform will be affordable for companies of all sizes.

The Recall Control Platform will be introduced at the upcoming Consumer Goods Forum Global Food Safety Conference in Washington, DC February 22nd and be available to the industry later this year.

SOURCE FoodTrack Inc.