Allergens top the recall charts

Errors in the packing and labelling of foods that contain allergenic ingredients was the single biggest cause of food and drink product recall in 2007. A survey of product recalls reported in RSSL's weekly Food e-news newsletter reveals that 45% of recalls were initiated because products were found to contain undeclared allergens. Other mislabelling errors, such as incorrect storage instructions, resulted in a further 6% of recalls, meaning that more than half of recalls are due to packaging/labelling faults of some kind.

Foreign bodies and pathogens accounted for 18% and 12% respectively, with the rest being due to a variety of other causes such as chemical contamination, spoilage, and faulty packaging.

Figures from RSSL's Emergency Response Service (ERS) make for an interesting comparison. In the same time period, the ERS investigated nearly 4 times as many incidents as there were product recalls. Nearly half of these (47%) were foreign body cases, with chemical contaminants and off-flavour/taints accounting jointly for 44%. Allergen investigations accounted for less than 10% of ERS investigations. 

"The ERS is called in by companies at times of a product emergency," says Karen Masters of RSSL. "It provides immediate analytical assistance to companies that know they might have a problem but need help in understanding exactly what the problem is. We know for sure that in many cases our intervention has enabled clients to avoid the expense and trauma of a recall. This might be either because we've shown that a recall isn't necessary, or we've been able to provide results at an early enough stage to prevent a product being put on the shelves. The fact that the ERS cases far exceed the number of recalls indicates to us that early intervention can make a huge difference to the eventual outcome of a product crisis."