Understandably, media attention in the UK is focused on the growing threat of Coronavirus and the two recent severe weather events. However, as well as these ongoing high-profile stories; there has also been a recent spate of food product recalls.
We have been tracking the number of food product recalls on the FSA website for some years now and the figures are pretty low and fairly steady (the figures for electrical product recalls, also shown, actually appear to be falling):
However, despite this, there have been five food product recalls in the last week alone:
- Lidl – Lupilu baby food
- Waitrose – Duchy organic almonds
- Nestle – Ski yogurt
- Iceland – Vegetable lasagne
- Coop – Gro sticky toffee pudding
For more details of these recalls go to the FSA website.
How surprised should we be by this: is something amiss? If the true underlying incidence of recalls is about 50 per year (or one a week); we would expect to see a week with 5 or more recalls about once every 5 years; so it does seem a little strange.
We don’t want to spread alarm though – this is almost certainly just a random blip. It is important to bear in mind that if you look hard enough you will find some unusual events out there! Nonetheless, if you’re in the manufacturing sector, it might not be a bad idea to give your recall plans a quick refresh.
