course of their routine duties, discover unsafe or improperly labeled foods; and
Epidemiological data submitted by State or local public health departments, or other Federal agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal unsafe, unwholesome or inaccurately labeled food.
As soon as the Bureau learns that a potentially unsafe or mislabeled meat or poultry product is in commerce, the Agency conducts a preliminary investigation to determine whether there is a need for a recall.
What occurs during a preliminary investigation?
The preliminary investigation may include some or all of the following steps:
Contacting the manufacturer of the food for more information;
Interviewing any consumers who allegedly became ill or injured from eating the suspect food;
Collecting and analyzing food samples;
Collecting and verifying information about the suspected food;
Discussions with Bureau field inspection and compliance personnel;
Contacting State and local health departments; and
Documenting a chronology of events.
How does the MDOL Meat and Poultry Bureau notify the public when a product is recalled?
MDOL Meat and Poultry Inspection notifies the public through a Recall Release for Class I and Class II recalls, and issues a Recall Notification Report (RNR) for Class III recall issues. (The RNR provides substantially the same information as the Recall Release; however, it is not distributed to media wire services or media outlets.) The Recall Release is issued to media outlets in the areas where the product was distributed. When possible, MDOL Meat and Poultry Inspection also includes pictures of the recalled product labels as part of the Recall Release posting.
For every Class I recall, the MDOL Meat and Poultry Bureau develops a list of retail consignees that have, or have had, the recalled products in their possession. The list of retail consignees includes the name, street address, city and state of each retail consignee and is posted within approximately 3 to 10 days of the date of the recall. The retail consignee list is updated periodically as additional retail consignee information becomes available.
What is the MDL Meat and Poultry Inspection Bureau's role during a recall?
When there is reason to believe that adulterated or misbranded product has entered commerce, the MDOL Meat and Poultry Inspection Bureau convenes the Recall Committee. The Committee evaluates all available information and then makes recommendations to the company about the need for a recall. The committee should consist of 5-7 members representing the following types of individuals: