SQF Ed. 8 Code vs. Guidance (2.6.3,Withdrawal- Recall)

Hi Everyone, 

As I'm frantically trying to pull together a FSMS from scratch to meet a June deadline, I've been relying heavily on the SQF Ed. 8 guidance documents.  The further I get into the code, I'm noticing that the guidance seems to expand on the code and introduce additional "must haves".  I know that the guidance is not auditable, but I find myself wondering if that is going to be a legitimate defense.  

Specifically looking at section 2.6.3 Product Withdrawal and Recall which simply states that we have to "identify those responsible for initiating, managing, and investigating a product withdrawal or recall".  The guidance goes to say that we "must have a management committee in place" with "senior management involvement" and "departmental and division managers with the authority to make decisions".  To me those are 2 different things.  We are a very small company with 10 employees and cannot realistically meet the "requirements" outlined in the guidance.  

Any insight is welcomed.  

Thanks!

A management committee could consist of you and the owner. We are also a small company with less than 10 employees. Most of my committees include myself and the general manager. Don't read in to the guidance too much. If you know your whole operation then you can consider yourself a department or division manager...if you even have departments or divisions. I know we purchased the implementation program from this site and it has been awesome. Good luck....keep everything as simple as you can.

Thank you, Adam.  Your advice is much appreciated.   : )  

Of course you can meet the requirements.

It is a really a 2 in 1 situation.

You create your recall team that includes senior management, owners, etc.

Each person on the recall team has a set of responsibilities.

That's it.

We work primarily with small food companies and that is how it is done and as a small company you may find that all of your committee's and teams have the same people on them, it works out that way and that is quite acceptable.

Thanks, Glenn!

Also work with small companies-usually who wears the hat (s) of owner, QC, shipping is enough for a recall committee!