Good communication essential for product recalls

“Consumers understand you’re going to have recalls – there are between five and 10 a day. What they don’t like is when you clam up,”​ said Gene Grabowski, of Levick Strategic Communications. Businesses have to communicate effectively in any recall with consumers, regulators and the media, he said.

“Social media is very troubling to this industry. We’ve seen a perfectly safe product that gets assassinated simply because some people don’t like it.”​

Talking at the food safety forum at AMI Expo, Mike Rozembajgier, of Stericycle Expert Solutions, said it was important to build a relationship with regulators, so that when a crisis hits, you are not starting from nowhere.

 
He said: “There’s a laser-like focus on food safety in Washington DC. The government is going to be talking about your recall and you have to be in tandem with them. Regulators are under a lot of pressure so it’s good to help make their jobs easier.”​

He said there were four key issues to focus on in any recall: “Protect the public, protect your brand, protect the environment where appropriate and close out as quickly as possible – put it behind you, so you can get back to putting good products back on shelf.”​

A recall does not have to be a disaster, Grabowksi added, as long as you communicate well: “Get your message right, and your messenger – sometimes the messenger is more important than your message. Do the recall correctly and your brand can emerge stronger than when you went in.”​