Tesco recently hit headlines as the latest grocery business to issue a ‘do not eat’ warning over a chocolate bar, with an immediate recall, amid health concerns.
The 80g pack sizes of Happi Free From Oat Milk bars contained milk, which it had not mentioned on the ingredients label.
Three separate flavours, Plain Milk, Salted Caramel and Plain White, were included in the recall, with the FSA explaining that the products were a health risk to anyone with an allergy or intolerance to milk. Happi Free From has urged those with allergies or intolerance to milk ‘do not eat’ their products and seek a refund.
This is the third recall Tesco has issued since the start of September (2022), and the second instance of an ingredient missing from the product label.
There is always a direct cost to recalling stock, as well as the indirect costs caused by the knock-on effects such as reputational damage. A study by Harris Interactive found that 15% of consumers refused to buy a product again, and 21% would not buy any product from the same manufacturer.
As you can imagine, the threat to profitability is high, with the GMA finding that US Food and Beverage Companies could lose up to $10m annually due to recalled products. Many of these recalls were due to biological contamination, but thousands of recalls occur each year due to mislabelling or misinformation on products.
However, this is something that can be safeguarded against. The FDA and FSA are encouraging Food and Beverage companies to digitally transform their manufacturing process. And this goes beyond the production floor.
Where manual ways of working are prone to errors and inaccuracies, 4Pack’s digital process can help your team monitor to launch products accurately, avoiding any discrepancies between the supplier’s recipe and the launched product label. 4Pack enables approved pack copy specifications, which are often a subset of the larger technical product specification, to be linked to artworks, which significantly lowers the risk of discrepancies and the likelihood of a recall happening again. The 4Pack dashboard easily allows you to archive, search and retrieve previous specs and artwork, which can be referenced and applied to future projects.You’ll still be able to meet the demands of the consumer, with a higher level of control and efficiency – whilst protecting your brand’s value and minimising production disruption.
Avoid the risk of non-compliance, recall and profit loss and contact 4Pack today
