Woolworths registers with GS1 Recallnet
MEDIA RELEASE
09 December 2011
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100 registrations in 100 days!
Only launched for use in August this year, GS1 Australia’s Recallnet has already met with universal enthusiasm from the food service, grocery, liquor and healthcare industries, with many more organisations actively planning to join.
Why is GS1 Recallnet needed?
A product recall is expensive and complicated and a badly handled one can ruin a brand’s reputation or send a company out of business. Yet stringent government regulations and exacting retailer requirements around foods, pharmaceuticals and a host of other sensitive goods make product recalls more likely than ever. A formal recall operating plan is therefore essential for every organisation.
The traditional way of managing a recall or withdrawal has been to manually check supply records and to contact each customer individually by various means, a costly, time-consuming and hit or miss process that puts extreme pressure on a company’s resources. In a recall situation where time and accuracy are of the essence manual handling simply creates greater risk of prosecution, class action suits, and jeopardises insurance cover.
What is GS1 Recallnet?
GS1 Recallnet is an online portal that enables companies to create, approve and issue recall and withdrawal notifications to their customers and government agencies, efficiently and securely. The service is based on global GS1 standards and best practices, and is designed to increase the speed and accuracy of the removal of unsafe or unsuitable products from the supply chain. GS1 Recallnet is initially being rolled out to the grocery/liquor/food service sectors, with healthcare launching next year.
With GS1 Recallnet, issuing a recall or withdrawal notification is simple, fast and inexpensive. Authorised, pre-registered users access the GS1 Recallnet web-portal following successful authentication. Once in the portal, the user can initiate a recall or withdrawal notification following a simple workflow and completing a standard notification form. The system validates the data as it is being entered to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information. Finally, the form can be sent for internal approval before being issued simultaneously to targeted recipients.
Click here to access GS1 Recallnet
How did GS1 Recallnet develop?
GS1 Australia has worked with the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), Efficient Consumer Response Australia (ECRA), the Liquor Merchants’ Association (LMAA) and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the Food Service Association of Australia (FSAA) and leading Australian retailers and manufacturers to establish GS1 Recallnet for foods and related products.
The GS1 Recallnet project in healthcare is being lead by GS1 Australia and The National eHealth Transition Authority (NeHTA) with participation from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Medical Technology Association of Australia, Medicines Australia, the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare, State Health Departments throughout Australia and a range of leading medical device and pharmaceutical suppliers.
Why so many GS1 Recallnet registrations so soon?
Industry immediately realised the benefits of the GS1 Recallnet portal, and in a short 77 days from its launch on 11 August, the 100th user completed its GS1 Recallnet registration on 28 October.
Viking Imports is a specialty food importer and distributor that supplies premium products to Australia’s leading independent retailers and major supermarket chains and specialty delicatessen shops.
Viking Imports business development manager Ivan Markovic said the company began investigating GS1 Recallnet a few months ago as a way to streamline its recall processes.
"We wanted to be able to contact customers, reliably and as quickly as possible, if the need were to arise in the future. GS1 Recallnet enables us to do this and safeguard the recall process."
GS1 Australia chief executive officer Maria Palazzolo said the use of GS1 Recallnet and GS1 Standards provides industry with the ability to improve recall effectiveness.
“GS1 Recallnet enables Australian companies to more effectively manage recall and withdrawal notifications to their trading partners and increase the safety and reliability of our supply chains.”
Woolworths completes integration with GS1 Recallnet
Another big milestone achieved by Recallnet within its first 100 days was the completion of end to end integration of GS1 Recallnet and Woolworths’s internal recall management system for its supermarket and liquor businesses.
As “The Fresh Food People” Woolworths has a deep commitment to food safety and quality, so much so that the company opened its own quality assurance laboratory as early as 1964, checking samples of merchandise against specifications to ensure that the quality ordered by Woolworths was delivered.
With annual sales exceeding AUD$50bn and more than 40,000 items on sale in over 1,000 stores around Australia, Woolworths recognises the need for a fast, efficient and reliable recall management system that can provide a smooth and seamless interface to their more than 7,000 suppliers.
Woolworths Limited senior business manager Ian Dunn said Woolworths became involved with GS1 Recallnet because it is an industry wide initiative that improves the speed, accuracy and security of the recall and withdrawal notification process. Woolworths has contributed to development of the Recallnet portal from the beginning and has now fully integrated Recallnet with our internal recall and withdrawal system through a GS1 standards based XML message. Woolworths now encourages its suppliers to consider the benefits of using GS1 Recallnet for notification of all recalls and withdrawals going forward”
According to GS1’s Ms Palazzolo, “having the support of major retailers like Woolworths, Coles, Metcash and Costco will ensure the success of Recallnet in the food and liquor sectors”
“The potential of GS1 Recallnet to mitigate the huge risk to your business in terms of cost and brand damage that a recall can cause is significant. Recallnet is seen by many companies as a form of insurance,” Ms Palazzolo said.
For more information, please contact Marcel Sieira, General Manager – Business Development at msieira@gs1au.org or 03 9550 3474.
