Food recalls & product warnings on the rise

Five years ago, the number of notifications was just half as high (2012: 83 entries), according to an evaluation of all notifications on lebensmittelwarnung.de by foodwatch. However, the authorities do not publish all product recalls on the portal. The consumer organization criticized that most product recalls did not reach people. Consumers are still not being warned comprehensively and quickly enough about foods that pose a health risk, it said, because the authorities often post recalls online only after a delay. An email newsletter service on product warnings, which was firmly agreed between the federal and state governments back in 2011, has not been set up to date. Supermarkets also often provide insufficient information to their customers, foodwatch criticized.
"In Germany, an average of about three food products are recalled every week - but consumers often don't find out about them," said Lena Blanken of foodwatch. In addition to improving the lebensmittelwarnung.de portal, the consumer organization believes that retailers in particular have a duty. Supermarkets are not yet obliged to inform customers quickly and comprehensively in a central place about all recalls from their product range. inform. This must change urgently, says foodwatch: "The supermarkets have direct contact with consumers, but far too often either not at all or only insufficiently inform about recalls. Rewe, Aldi, Edeka and Co. must inform customers by notices in the stores, via newsletters, press releases and also via social media about recalls. products hazardous to health warn." Via an e-mail protest at www.warn-mich.foodwatch.de consumers can support this demand to the retail chains.

From broken glass in bread to salmonella in eggs
In Germany, the federal and state governments had the website foodwarning.com launched in 2011 to disseminate recalls on a central platform. foodwatch has evaluated all reports on the portal in recent years. In 2017, the authorities posted 161 recalls online - for a wide variety of reasons, from broken glass in bread to Salmonella in egg. Since the portal went online at the end of 2011, there has been an almost constant increase in the number of recalls reported: 83 in 2012, 75 in 2013, 107 in 2014, 100 in 2015, and 147 in 2016. foodwatch believes, however, that lebensmittelwarnung.de has failed as a central information platform for consumers. The portal is unclear and provides recall notices only incompletely and often delayed: Every second warning appears significantly late, as a test by foodwatch in 2017 showed. In any case, the site usually only contains notifications that have already been published by the companies concerned. An assessment of why there were more recalls is difficult, however, according to foodwatch expert Lena Blanken: "Whether there were more incidents or whether the companies are now simply more likely to start a recall cannot be read from the figures. The fact is that when there is a recall, not everything is done to warn the people affected."

European food law leaves much room for maneuver
German and European food law has so far left a lot of leeway as to when a recall is required. Whether and in what form to warn against unsafe Food is warned depends primarily on the will and competence of the companies. After all, both the assessment of the health risk and the public warning are primarily the responsibility of the companies - which are faced here with the conflict of interest between a recall and possible negative consequences for the company. The authorities often lack legal certainty. foodwatch had pointed out the weaknesses of the food recall system last year in the report "Um Rückruf wird bitten": Important food warnings often do not reach consumers. In quite a few cases, companies and authorities decide too late, sometimes not at all, to issue a required recall and inform the public. In addition, the health risks of the foods, which are contaminated with bacteria or contain foreign bodies, for example, are repeatedly downplayed.

Sources and further information:
foodwatch report "Callback is requested„
Email petition to (German) retail companies

Editorial note from Foodwatch: It often happens that recall information is not widely disseminated, especially for products from smaller, little-known manufacturing companies. For many media, this is not newsworthy. But regardless of the "news value", a report can be life-saving in the best case. Whether a person becomes seriously ill from a listeria-contaminated cheese, for example, does not depend on how well-known the cheese dairy is or how many units of the cheese were produced.

Text: Foodwatch

Recalls in Switzerland

Swiss entrepreneurs are required to withdraw their products from the market or recall them if the foodstuffs imported, manufactured or sold by the business or commodities endanger the health of consumers respectively are not safe. In doing so, they must cooperate with the competent cantonal enforcement authority and take all necessary measures to withdraw the affected products from the market (withdrawal) or, if they have already been sold, to recall them (recall). If the product has also been supplied to the EU, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) on the rapid alert system for food and feed RASFF or, in the case of consumer goods, the countries of the European Union via known contact points.

Public warnings and food recalls

Public warnings and recalls of articles of daily use

Warnings you can also subscribe via Twitter "Swissfoodalerts