January 16, 2007
Volume 3 Issue 95

A Food Focused System that Can Help You During A Product Recall

           As we have discussed in Issues 92, 93, and 94, recalls can do major damage not only to a company’s reputation but also to their profitability. A recall, depending on the length and intensity can be extremely costly and cause major setbacks.  For this reason, it is important for companies to know what their options are when it comes to protecting themselves from such predicaments. A very useful and efficient option for protection would be a software program that tracks your inventory and allows you to search for product recalls.  This search can be done by utilizing a commonly used Code, known as the GS1-128.

          The GS1-128 Code (formerly known as the UCC-128 Code) is used by most bar code labels to identify products. As we have stated in the previous issues, this is a 48-digit code including such information as batch number, lot number, different size info, net weight, and best before dates, as well as other important details.  It enables processors and distributors, like you, to designate a serial code to products to provide better identification and traceability.  This serial code, when added to your system, allows you to see who the particular items containing those serial numbers were sent to, therefore eliminating the investigation when it comes to a recall. 

          Take, for example, the FSIS (a division of the USDA) were to find some contaminated packages of meat that came from your processing plant and a recall was inevitable.  In this case, the processor would be able to search that serial number and see which distributors that product was sold to.  This would be useful information in order to decrease the amount of time it takes to find out where those packages are located.  Once the distributors are notified, they can then look in their food software system to see who they sold the contaminated product to as well.  They can then notify the retailers and pull the product immediately.  This serial number eliminates the time it takes to conduct a recall as well as eliminates some of the negative exposure which could be devastating to company’s reputation.

These serial numbers, designated to your products are able to be read, by a shipping system, and added directly into the system.  These shipping systems scan the barcode and add that information into your records, without having to manually write anything down! The picture above shows the software scanning an actual bar code, which holds the serial number used in a product recall.  This serial number would then be electronically added to the company’s records where it could be looked up by the system if needed. Having this number be available and easily reached is invaluable for making a recall as short and effective as necessary.

This screen shot allows you to see how a product recall report would be initiated.  You can look up the report by the item number, located where the red arrow is showing. As you can see, where the blue arrow is pointing, there is a space to enter the range of serial codes relating to the product. Once this range is entered, the system will look up those serial codes and show you which products were sent out and who they were sent to.  It is also possible to look up your product recall by invoice date or when the product was produced/packed by simply inserting the start and end dates you would like to see. There are many ways to go about conducting your product recall but the fact is this correct system makes finding that product much easier!

The screen shot shown above displays what your product recall report would look like on the system.   The red arrows show where the serial numbers are represented on the report.  As you can see each serial number is linked to the product and this report allows us to see which companies received the product and on which date.  As the report shows, the first red arrow shows the serial numbers which correspond to the products sent to the theoretical company Brooklyn Bodega and the second arrow shows the serial numbers corresponding to the products sent to the theoretical company Chicken or Egg Restaurant. The report lists the prod/pack dates as well, giving you even more information about the product recall. Clearly, this report would be beneficial when it came to narrowing down a product recall.

You can see that the ability to trace your products with a food focused Information System not only provides you with protection but is extremely cost effective, allowing you to limit the amount of product you have to recall.

Cutting costs requires protecting yourself and your company against unexpected, uncontrollable circumstances.

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