Whether the CB or customer get a beating does depend on what systems, procedures and records they have in place and what was audited etc. Even the best food safety management system makes mistakes and this is a voluntary recall, which is an important point to note. If a recall is truly voluntary it demonstrates that they picked it up (albeit late) and have not tried to sweep it under the carpet. Sometimes a company who does this is actually better than the unknown thousands who do sweep it under the carpet.
I understand Simon, I'll chip in 3 more cents: FDA found problems at Sunland before, two inspections at the plant in 2009 and 2010 found ‘objectionable conditions’… However, whenever I have ever been audited, the 3rd party auditor ALWAYS asked about previous audits and findings. Albeit that FDA had not released details on what the objectionable conditions were…
Also, the lots were HUGE! (Best-If-Used-By Dates between May 1, 2013 and September 24, 2013).
SQF level 3 with a 90 percent score? IMO the real concern:
1) Are 3rd party auditors rigorous enough to find wholes in a food processors food safety systems?
Not to get anybody in the food industry paranoid (food, in general, seem to be out ta get ya), but bottom line, no matter how good ones food safety/quality management system, ones
food safety system can be always undercut by ones supplier (hence emphasis on Supplier Approval and Lot Control/Tracking systems). This does not bode well for any trust that can be had in the GFSI benchmarks and managing ones Supplier Approval system:
2) Do we have to go back to visiting our own suppliers again to validate them? (adding more cost to the supply chain)
No wonder FDA has issues with 3rd Party audits... now that this is done-and-over-with from last year:
3) anybody able to comment further about this Sunland recall? (I'd like to know why the lots were so large)
