Thought Leadership

Of all the factors that impact recall response rates, including age of the product, frequency of use, and price, direct notifications are the single greatest determiner. But that means consumer product manufacturers facing a recall need contact information, such as a home address, an email, or a phone number. Traditionally, that has meant that high product registration rates were necessary to facilitate these notifications.

Our Q2 2018 Recall Index found that recall activity in the food space increased in Q2, especially when it came to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food units, which rose more than 20 times over the previous quarter to nearly 213 million, mostly due to one large recall of salmonella-contaminated eggs. But other measurements also saw increases. It may come as a surprise, but those increases did not include the widely-publicized romaine lettuce issue.

Many companies think that because they have a recall plan in place, they are ready for any recall that may occur, only to realize they are actually woefully unprepared when it actually happens. That typically points to one thing: the plan wasn’t nearly as robust as it needed to be. When it comes to recall preparation, having an outline of a plan isn’t much better than having no plan at all. Here are some of the signs a recall plan is inadequate. It’s shorter than the average obit.

As we mentioned in our first blog of 2018, The Future of Recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) held a workshop on how to improve recall effectiveness. In the report that followed that event, the CPSC stated that recalls with direct notifications have proven most effective.

Imagine a world where there are a handful of recalls a year. Each one would be big news, even if it involved a relatively low hazard or small number of products. But that’s not the world we live in. In fact, there are more than 3,000 recalls every year in the U.S. alone – roughly nine per day. At that pace, it’s no wonder response rates are often very low. But just how low depends on many factors.