International Specialty Supply
Supplying Sprout Companies Throughout the World
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International Specialty Supply Supplying Sprout Companies Throughout the World
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820 East 20th Street Cookeville, TN 38501 USA 931 526 1106
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Sungarden Sprouts - ISS Has Mock Recall
SproutNet
International Specialty Supply
May 13, 2001 Last
week we performed our semi-annual mock recall to test the effectiveness of
our HACCP recall procedures. The purpose of a mock recall is to test the
effectiveness of your written recall procedures. In a mock recall you pretend that a health inspector
has notified you that you have product in the stores that is contaminated.
Our
HACCP Director, Kelly Warren, announced over the building speakers that there
was a "code red". This means that there is a pathogen alert and that no product
is to go in or out until the source of the contamination is determined and
removed.
If
this were a real recall we need to contact, as quickly as possible, all of our
customers who have that product and let them know to contain or recall
the product. The product we mock recalled was spicy sprouts, made of
alfalfa and clover. Within 30 minutes, our sprout department, Sungarden
Sprouts, had a list of every vendor who received the suspected product with the
suspected lot number. It also had a list of all customers who had received
any products with either clover or radish, as we would not be sure which one was
contaminated. All product was quarantined. Our
seed department, ISS Prime Seed, took 1.75 hours to complete the recall.
It had put together a list of every sprout grower we sold seed to with the lot
numbers involved. Sixty-seven thousand pounds of the particular lots of
clover and radish had been distributed to growers throughout the US and
four countries. Each
time we mock a recall we learn a little more, and as we get new employees, new
training needs to be done. The recall committee made five suggestions for
improvement including the increasing the next mock recall to three months, in
order to get Prime Seeds response time to within 30 minutes as well. If
you would like a copy of the report on this mock recall, just call your ISS or
Sungarden salesperson and they can fax you a copy. If you would like more
information on how to administer a mock recall, call Kelly Warren. I am
proud of the recall team and the company’s commitment to food safety. Last
week the FDA inspected us. We received a 97, which is down from last time.
But I don't think that is bad considering they inspect our Prime Seed and
Packaging Divisions in addition to Sungarden Sprouting Division.
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