9 replies to this topic

[The Food Scientist]

Does the new edition of SQF 9 require you to contact customers when you do a mock recall?

 

2.6.3.2 The product withdrawal and recall system shall be reviewed, tested, and verified as effective at least annually. Testing shall include incoming materials (minimum traceability one step back) and finished product (minimum traceability one step forward). Testing shall be carried out on products from different shifts and for materials (including bulk materials) that are used across a range of products and/or products that are shipped to a wide range of customers.

2.6.3.3 Records shall be maintained of withdrawal and recall tests, root cause investigations into actual withdrawals and recalls, and corrective and preventative actions applied.

 

I don't see that anywhere here.

 

Anyone can share any insight? 

[Scampi]

no it does not

 

but you should have a current customer register as part of the mock

[Gelato Quality Lead]

The requirement to contact customers during mock recall is a Costco requirement

[SQFconsultant]

Not required by SQF.

[Tony-C]

Hi The Food Scientist,

 

The SQF Code does not require you to contact anybody as part of a recall test but you need to ensure that you have an up-to-date list of key contacts such including customers, regulators and other essential contacts that need to be notified in the event of a withdrawal or recall.

 

That list needs to include out-of-hours contact details for those customers, regulators and other essential contacts. For each contact, I would expect to see name of person to contact, organization, address, landline, mobile & email address. I would be checking that those were correct when I did my recall test. If that meant I needed to contact the customer to ensure the details were correct then I would do so.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

 

 

[SHQuality]

The requirement to contact customers during mock recall is a Costco requirement

Do any other standards require it?

[Scampi]

Re: Costco requirement

 

We are a Costco supplier and that has never been requested during any of our audits

[Gelato Quality Lead]

Re: Costco requirement

 

We are a Costco supplier and that has never been requested during any of our audits

Although I don't see this requirement on their Food Safety GMP Audit Template V2.4.1 effective April 1, 2023, we received an email last November from Costco with their Food Safety & Quality Audit Expectations V2.0 effective April 1, 2023. The email also included a memo about PFAS in food contact packaging. The mock recall requirement stated there is to reach out to every customer that the "recalled" item was sold to in order to verify that their receiving records match up with our distribution records and to also verify their current contact information. For any customers not contacted during mock recall, their contact information should also be verified on an annual basis.

[Scampi]

but it's only the one customer, Costco.............

[Scampi]

but it's only the one customer, Costco.............

To be clear, our audit was just last week.  We sell a lot of volume to Costco, our Costco audit is a portion of our SQF audit------so perhaps if it is a full Costco audit, outside of GFSI, then perhaps yes.

 

Our auditor made no mention of this as a requirement, and we always do a full mock recall for a costco sku as part of the SQF/Costco audit process