GS1 Recallnet

GS1 Australia and HP have signed an agreement to develop a cloud-based recall service to remove potentially harmful products from the supply chain.

The service, GS1 Recallnet, will run on the HP cloud computing platform for manufacturing, which allows companies to see and share information across the supply chain. It allows Australia to rapidly exchange recall notifications both within the border of its own supply chain and with other countries. Food and consumer products organisations can use the service to reduce errors, decrease the amount of time it takes to respond to a recall and mitigate the costs associated with managing the recall process.

This year, a review of the Australian product safety recall system by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), revealed that, in 2009, there were 779 recalls in Australia, some involving many thousands of products. The report said that the average return rate across recalls for all Commonwealth regulators is 56.75%. The ACCC urged suppliers to implement tailored communications strategies in the event of a recall and said the days of relying just on newspaper advertisements as the major method of communication were past.

GS1 Australia is working with the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), Efficient Consumer Response Australasia (ECRA), the Liquor Merchants Association (LMAA) and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) to establish GS1 Recallnet for the Australian grocery and liquor sectors by March 2011.

GS1 Recallnet will offer businesses a single, consistent, automated, online, industry-based recall and withdrawal notification process. Built-in security will send notifications to authorised users and targeted retailers and clear handling, disposal and reimbursement instructions will help to speed the recall process.

Users will be able to customise alerts and target specific retailers and distributors with relevant information. A traceable security and audit trail will assist with compliance.