AL Firm Recalls Meat and Poultry Products After Complaints for Metal

A Selma, Ala. establishment is recalling approximately 11,664 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) poultry and meat sausage products that may be contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically metal. 
The problem was discovered after the firm received consumer complaints on Dec. 13 and 27, 2018. The firm investigated to determine the nature of the complaints and notified FSIS on Dec. 29, 201

USDA Recall Notice
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2018/recall-125-2018-release
R. L. Zeigler Co., Inc. Recalls Chicken and Pork Red Hot Sausage Products due to Possible Foreign Matter Contamination 
Class I Recall 
125-2018 
Health Risk: High 
Dec 30, 2018 

Amazon Discusses Monitoring for Food Safety Issues and Conducting Recalls

An interesting read in Food Engineering Magazine on how Amazon scans consumer complaints for food safety issues and how the company handles recalls.  

With over 300 million customers worldwide, the company moves a lot of product.  And with that, there will be complaints.  But going through "16 million pieces of customer feedback per week, in more than 40 languages" to find issues is not easy.   In addition, there are postings on social media sites and product reviews. The company employs machine learning computer systems that go beyond keyword identification to understand "context, sentiment, and sentence structure."

For recalls, the company uses emails to contact customers  with instructions for return and if relevant, a refund.  The success rate with emails is stated as 68.8 percent of the messages sent were opened.
The company also quarantines inventory preventing the product from being shipped or reordered.  Then the company also removes inventory from the supply chain by returning or destroying products.

Food Engineering Magazine
https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/97693-how-amazon-handles-food-safety-recalls
How Amazon handles food safety, recalls
Amazon VP Careltt Ooton explains how the company uses Natural Language Processing to scan customer feedback and constantly monitor for food safety issues
August 17, 2018
Crystal Lindell

FDA Makes Complaint Database Available, Updates Process for Filing Complaints by Consumers

FDA is making its adverse-event database available.  This list voluntary reports of adverse effects from food as well as reports of drugs.

"The new data can be particularly helpful in the area of food-safety issues, Jacobson said, because the FDA has “a very limited budget, and traditionally has been behind the curve in identifying problems and trying to correct them.”
The database “gives some hint about hot spots in the food supply,” Jacobson said. “If you see large numbers, it’s probably not some random consumer making a spurious association between a headache and something they ate.” 

In the past, this information was available though the Freedom of Information Act, now, it will be available for researchers, companies, and of course lawyers.

Interestingly, FDA receives only about 7500 complaints per year.  Not a lot when you think about the number of products sold each day to 320 million people.

The FDA updated procedures for filing complaints for consumers.  FDA directs consumers on how to report non-emergency complaints.   They can call the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator assigned for each state or to go online and report to MedWatch website.

Bloomburg BNA
https://www.bna.com/fda-food-cosmetics-n73014448792/
FDA Food, Cosmetics Data Boon for Attorneys, Companies
December 19, 2016