Governments, consumers, and stakeholders expect unblemished safety processes from farm-to-fork, and they increasingly do not care where in the supply chain the failure occurs. If your company is part of the chain of custody, your reputation and financial performance are at risk. Retailers, once mostly shielded by their branded vendors from reputational harm, now face significant exposure through their own private-label brands. To minimize potential liability and financial damage, organizations need to be proactive and have demonstrable systems in place to protect their consumers by managing food-safety risks across their supply chain.
According to Marsh's Supply Chain Risk Management practice and Product Risk practice, food safety requirements should be addressed through:
- A comprehensive supply chain risk assessment and mitigation program focused on preventive actions both within a company's internal operations and at its supply chain partners;
- Documented processes and procedures to minimize the scope and likelihood of a recall due to contamination;
- Efficient product-recall processes that stretch from the initial identification of the issue to disposal of recalled product; and
- Brand-protection actions in the event of a contamination incident.
This article was authored by Melissa Hersh in MRC's Supply Chain Risk Management Practice and Hester Shaw in MRC's Product Risk Practice.
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