Dairy Food Recall Model (the information below only applies within Australia)
A food recall is action taken to remove unsafe food from distribution, sale and consumption. All food businesses must be able to quickly remove food from the marketplace to protect public health and safety. FSANZ coordinates and monitors food recalls in Australia. If you need to recall food in Australia, you should call Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) as soon as you have identified a food recall is required.
Potential costs associated with a food recall
This online Dairy Food Recall Model* has been developed to help Australian dairy businesses understand the potential costs of a food recall and help guide decisions for improvements to their procedures. If you are a business with the following characteristics, then the recall costs (obtained using a model based on information from historical data) are likely to fall within the indicated range as shown below.
Small is less than 2,000 tonnes (8m litres) total annual production.
Large is greater than 2,000 tonnes (8m litres) total annual production.
Product type
Product type is a group of products which fulfil a similar need for a market segment or market as a whole. Product type can also be defined as set of common specific characteristics in products or goods. Product Types for this food
Recall Tool are wet products (e.g. drinking milk, yoghurts) or cheese products (soft and hard). Ice creams have not been modelled.
Type of recall
Food recalls can be at the trade or consumer level.
A consumer recall is the most extensive type, recovering the food from all points in the production and distribution chain, including from consumers.
A trade recall recovers food that has not been sold directly to consumers. It involves recovering the product from distribution centres and wholesalers, and may also include hospitals, restaurants or other
catering establishments.
Note: A food withdrawal is different from a food recall. It involves removing food from the supply chain where there is no public health or safety issue (e.g. if the product is underweight or has a quality
defect).
Nature of retail distribution
Local refers to only a few stores.
Small refers to many stores but limited supermarket distribution.
Large refers to many stores with wide supermarket distribution.
Reason for recall
*The Food Recall Model makes a distinction between two types of reason for recalls:
A recall where the product being considered unsafe for human consumption. Some examples of this are: microbial contamination; foreign matter contamination; or choking hazard.
A recall where the product is safe for human consumption but requires some type of alteration (e.g. food labelling) prior to it being sold. An example of this is an undeclared allergen.
Number of states/territories product sold
Australian States and Territories only.
* This Model draws on food safety recall literature, past dairy food safety recall incidents and a range of selected data to:
develop a framework to identify the key dairy food safety recall costs and key business characteristics that can drive these costs; and
develop indicative estimates of dairy food safety recall costs for a range of dairy manufacturing business types.
The Food Recall Model provides an overview of the type of costs that are likely to be incurred by dairy food manufacturers in the case of a food recall. It also provides an indicative range of costs that have been incurred in the past by manufacturers. The model is not intended to be a predictive tool or ‘calculator’ as the exact costs that will be incurred by a manufacturer will depend on the circumstances of the recall. Dairy Australia takes no responsibility whatsoever for incorrect use of, and total reliance on, this Food Recall Model.