Rejected products for sale on Facebook
Rejected products: how should we handle them?
A food company notices that their products are being sold on Facebook, most of them are unlabeled and described as "manufacturing defects". It would concern a limited number of products that had been rejected during production... What now? This happened to one of our members...
The company started an investigation. They managed to trace the batch in question thanks to the expiration date. These products had been rejected due to a contamination risk and were to be destroyed. At the time, an external firm had come to collect the products in question in order to destroy them.
The company immediately contacted the authorities given the potential food safety danger. They were able to track down and arrest the provider on Facebook that same day. They also sent out a public alert because a couple of these products had already been sold.
Be aware of what happens to your rejected products
As a company, you rely upon the services of various external partners. Know your partners and their working methods. Contact and check them regularly. After all, close communication ensures better collaboration.
Be informed about your products
It is hard to have your eyes and ears everywhere. On the one hand, you can avoid a blind spot by monitoring the social media. On the other hand, your employees can pick up on a lot of things. They need to know to whom and how to report important information.
Contact the authorities in case of compromised food safety
The authorities have means that your company doesn’t have and they are able to intervene quickly. Your crisis team should evaluate whether or not it is necessary to inform the authorities.
- Giving advice on how to create an action plan to deal with incidents or crises.
- Giving training courses about crisis management awareness.
- Raising awareness of all kinds of phenomena and events by sharing our experiences and learning points.
Learning points
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