The regulation will require UK food companies to immediately withdraw or recall any food which has been imported, produced, processed, manufactured or distributed that they consider may not be compliant with the EC's safety requirements. Common reasons for recall may be accidental contamination, malicious tampering, mis-labelling, and product extortion.
Companies will not only be required to immediately recall the products, but they will also have to inform the relevant authorities that they are instructing a recall - a procedure which is not currently necessary. In addition, it will be compulsory for member states to report withdrawals or recalls into the Rapid Alert System (RAS). The system is overseen by the EC, alerting authorities in each member country about any serious recall situations. Currently, there are approximately 15-20 recall alert notifications per week.
Neil Evans, vice president, crisis management, AIG Europe (UK), says that the regulation will effectively force firms to consider what procedures they have in place to deal with a recall situation. "When these situations arise, product recall insurance can help, not only financially, but also from a crisis management perspective, by assisting in recalling all affected products."
