USDA FSIS Releases Guidance on Responding to Consumer Complaints for Meat and Poultry Operations

USDA FSIS released a 'best practices' for handling customer complaints for meat and poultry operations.  This was issued after the numerous complaints of foreign objects 

"The purpose of this guideline is to provide industry with reference material on best practices for responding to customer complaints of adulterated and misbranded meat and poultry products.  FSIS developed this document in response to an increase in the number of recalls of meat and poultry products adulterated with foreign materials.  In many cases, the recalling establishments had received multiple customer complaints prior to these recalls." 

By regulation, firms are to notify USDA FSIS if the firm finds the product is adulterated.  So technically, if complaints are received that there is a foreign material, the product is adulterated.  This is to be done within 24hrs.

What are the notification requirements under 9 CFR 418.2? §418.2  Notification.
Each official establishment must promptly notify the local FSIS District Office within 24 hours of learning or determining that an adulterated or misbranded meat, meat food, poultry, or poultry product received by or originating from the official establishment has entered commerce, if the official establishment believes or has reason to believe that this has happened. The official establishment must inform the District Office of the type, amount, origin, and destination of the adulterated or misbranded product. 

Highlights from the document - https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/8d0a0e73-1e6f-424f-a41f-ea942247a5ff/Guideline-for-Industry-Response-Customer-Complaint.pdf?MOD=AJPERES



Customer Complaint Program Recommendations:

• FSIS recommends, but does not require, that an establishment develop a program to receive and process customer complaints.   Regardless of the source, each customer complaint should be evaluated as a possible report of adulterated or misbranded product in commerce.  
• When an establishment chooses to implement a customer complaint program, it should develop and maintain a program that addresses the receipt of complaints, investigation of complaints, implementation of corrective actions, and notification of FSIS that adulterated or misbranded product has entered commerce.   
• A customer complaint program may be used to meet existing regulatory requirements.   When the evaluation, investigation, and corrective actions for FSIS regulated products are fully documented and available to FSIS for review upon request under a customer complaint program, the records of the program can be used to fulfil regulatory requirements in 9 CFR 418.4, 416.16, and 417.5.   

Overview of the Program 

•  A consumer complaint program should include the following components that will be discussed in more detail in subsequent sections of this guideline: 
• Customer Complaint Reporting  
• Substantiation of the Customer Complaint 
• Establishment Response to a Customer Complaint  
• Establishment Response Plan and Investigation 
•  FSIS Notification o 
• Corrective Actions 
•  Documentation of the Customer Complaint  
• 
  

Customer Complaint Reporting 

•  Each establishment should develop appropriate mechanisms to receive and process customer complaints.   
•  The establishment should provide household consumers with a method for reporting a complaint, 

Substantiation of the Customer Complaint 

•  An establishment should develop criteria and a mechanism for determining the validity of any customer complaint.  
• The establishment should also develop criteria to determine that no tampering of the product occurred after shipment from the producing establishment.  The establishment should determine what evidence, if any, the customer has of the adulteration and misbranding.  Evidence which can be used to substantiate a claim include: Photographs,  • Video, or • A sample of the product label, product, and any other applicable material (e.g., foreign material). 
• Establishments should facilitate the substantiation of complaints as soon as possible when there is the potential that adulterated product is in the hands of household consumers.  
• The establishment should identify the specific establishment employee(s) (name or title) who will receive notification of the complaint and are responsible for the initial substantiation. 
• FSIS considers it a best practice for establishments to notify the local FSIS inspector that an investigation of a potential adulterated or misbranded product in commerce is underway. CFR 418.2 requires the official establishment to notify the District Office within 24 hours of learning or determining that adulterated or misbranded product has entered commerce.   
• When an establishment determines that a customer complaint claim is not valid or applicable to FSIS-regulated products, it is recommended that the establishment maintain documentation to support how that decision was made.  

 Establishment Response to a Customer Complaint 

•  When an establishment determines that a customer complaint represents adulterated or misbranded product that has entered commerce the establishment should respond by performing an investigation, notifying FSIS, and taking corrective actions.  While it is not required that the establishment maintain a written plan for addressing customer complaints, it may be helpful for an establishment to do so to facilitate training and to document corrective actions.   

 Establishment Response Plan and Investigation 

• The establishment should quickly identify any affected product (e.g., lot, date, line, etc.) and identify distribution of the affected product.  Drafting and maintaining a written response plan is the recommended best practice.  
• The response plan should include an investigation of the production that incorporates a review of relevant records generated during the production of the affected product and may include performing a visual inspection of any questionable product or labels available, observing ongoing operations/production of like product, and talking to employees who may have information pertinent to the investigation.  Affected product that has not been shipped should be held and inspected prior to shipping to determine if there are additional instances of adulteration or misbranding.  
• The establishment should evaluate the HACCP system and reassess the HACCP plan to determine if the decisions in the hazard analysis or HACCP plan are still supportable.  

 FSIS Notification

•  Once the establishment has determined that adulterated or misbranded FSIS regulated product has entered commerce, 9 CFR 418.2 must be followed.  Contact information for notification is provided on the www.FSIS.USDA.gov contact us webpage.   

The rest of the document focuses on corrective action and the impact on the HACCP plan and other food safety programs and when/how they are to be modified