GMA Urges Adoption of New Recall Tech

A letter to the grocery industry is urging retailers, wholesalers/distributors, suppliers and other participants to support Rapid Recall Express technology to “help build the industry-common practice” for handling recalls.

In the letter, Jim Flannery, SEVP of operations and industry affairs at the Washington, D.C.-based Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), and Roger Hancock, founder and CEO of Recall Infolink, a Boise, Idaho-based recall solutions provider, note the importance of a fast, accurate recall process in protecting both consumers and brands, and that the right technology for flowing information through the extended retail supply chain is vital for speed and accuracy. Today’s complex, integrated supply chain means that successful companies must proactively protect their brands by planning for a product crisis before it happens.

Created in partnership between GMA, Food Marketing Institute, the National Grocers Association and global standards organization GS1 US, Rapid Recall Express uses GS1 Global Open Standards and contains structured data to help brand owners enter required information on the recall only once. It then allows systems such as Recall Infolink to quickly and accurately distribute that detail to holders of potentially tainted product so those companies can remove and return the items. Additionally, the notification can be shared with third-party providers assisting the affected company with the execution of these events, reducing the amount of time that the affected product is in the marketplace. Recalling firms can incorporate Rapid Recall Express into existing company practices to enable the expeditious flow of needed information.

Rapid Recall Express will be free and open to all companies, making it easier for all trading partners to prepare and send or receive recall and withdrawal notifications.