Chapter 9 - Emergency Situations

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9.6 Food Borne Disease Emergencies - Recalls

Plant management must have a recall plan as part of the HACCP system. Recalls are coordinated through the Office of Food Safety and Recall (OFSR) which was created to coordinate food emergency response with CFIA staff across Canada and external partners. Timely and effective response to food safety emergencies is the priority of the OFSR.

Information required by the Office of Food Safety and Recall includes:

• a detailed description of the nature of the problem;
• the name, brand, size, lot code(s) affected;
• details of complaints received and any reported illnesses;
• the distribution of the product - local or national;
• when the product was distributed (specific dates);
• label(s) of the product(s) which may be recalled;
• the total quantity of product produced and distributed;
• the name of the firm's contact with the CFIA; and
• the name and telephone number(s) for the firm's after-hours contact.

The area recall coordinator is the initial contact for suspicions of food borne diseases and for recalls due to mislabelling or contamination. The OFSR may initiate contact with Health Canada who are responsible for performing a health risk assessment.

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