FDA food recalls down in Q4 but affected units rockets 142%

09-Mar-2015 - Last updated on 09-Mar-2015 at 12:58 GMT

Picture: FDA/Flickr

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food recalls were down in Q4 2014 but the amount of product involved grew by 142% from the previous quarter, according to the Stericycle Quarterly Recall Index.

The FDA food industry saw 105 events in the final three months of 2014, the lowest number of recalls tracked all year.

The quarter was also the year’s lowest in terms of affected companies, with 94 experiencing at least one recall in Q4.

However, the last three months of 2014 held the highest amount of affected units with 13.8 million units recalled, a 142% increase from Q3.

FDA units up and recalls down

Todd Harris, vice president at Stericycle, told FoodQualityNews that the growth in affected units was one of the highest from quarter to quarter.

“Undeclared allergens were the chief driver. Food manufacturers need to be more aware of their supply chain, know their ingredient sources and isolate problems through lot numbers or product codes and identify affected supply to be vigilant about accurately labelling products,” he said.

“The Q4 index showed FDA food recalls were lower but it was a high number of units so the events were fewer but they were larger or more complex.”

The Stericycle Recall Index gathers and tracks data from the FDA, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to compile the food recall index.

Undeclared allergens accounted for more than 50% of FDA recalled units in Q4, followed by contamination with pathogens such as Salmonella and E.coli.

83% of recalled units were Class II in Q4, which was consistent with Q3 at 86%.

USDA findings

According to USDA reports, there were 31 recalls of meat, poultry or processed egg products in Q4, up 48% from Q3.

This is the highest number of events tracked since Q1 2012 and the amount of recalled pounds also grew in Q4.

There were over 2.1 million pounds recalled in the last three months of the year, which is 2.5 times the amount from the prior quarter.

Thirty-one companies were impacted by a recall in Q4—the highest number tracked in all of 2014.

Harris said product recalls can protect the brand and the public and they can have financial and legal implications.

“Firms need to have a recall plan and testing on a routine basis which leads to the ability to close out a recall,” he said.

“With a number of our customers we do a mock recall to mimic the process to make sure they are prepared, they follow SOPs, they know who is the person to contact and these can be done on an annual basis.

“Consumer awareness is a big trend, sharing news about recalls on social media when they happen you see the customer is going online and there is also increase scrutiny from regulators so as a food manufacturer you can’t leave yourself unprotected.”