Product Recall / Witdrawal Procedure

 March 1, 2023

1. Overview

   • Enacted in 2009, the Consumer Protection Act was drafted and later adopted ith the main objective being to promote a fair, accessible, and sustainable marketplace for consumer products and services.
   • In light of this, the Consumer Protection Act gives rights, duties, and obligations to both consumers and suppliers as main role players in the marketplace. These rights, duties, and obligations govern commercial transactions as well as the goods and services which form part of those transactions.
   • One of the rights granted by the Act is the consumer’s right to choose. This right to choose encompasses amongst others the rights, duties, obligations, and procedures applicable when a good or service undergoes repair or maintenance.

1. Scope 

   • This policy applies to all consumers (and/or anyone whom they authorize to act on their behalf) who enter into and complete transactions with The Company for the purchase of products or services.
   • These transactions must take place in the ordinary course of business and not fall into one of the categories of exemption.
   • If a fixed-term agreement was entered into before the Consumer Protection Act became effective, the CPA still applies to the agreement if it would have been applicable had the Act been in effect or where the fixed-term contract was enforceable until or after 1 April 2011.

1. Applicable Legal Principles

   • CPA grants South African consumers 8 rights, including the Right to Fair Value in terms of Section 54 of the CPA, Good Quality and Safety. This right applies to both services and goods supplied in the market. This right shall be violated in the event of a defect, failure, hazard, or unsafety attaching to goods or services.
   • In terms of Section 61 of the CPA a producer or importer, distributor, or retailer of any goods is liable for any harm caused wholly or partly as a consequence of supplying unsafe goods, a product failure, defect, or hazard in any goods, or inadequate instructions or warnings in respect of the use of the goods, irrespective of whether the harm resulted from any negligence on the part of the producer, importer, distributor, and retailer as the case may be.
   • Section 61 makes provision for modified so-called “strict liability” of an importer, producer, distributor, or retailer of the goods. In terms, of hereof an importer, producer, distributor, and retailer will be jointly and severally liable for the defective goods. Therefore, the customer does not have to prove fault in the form of negligence against a specific role player in the chain of distribution. The customer merely has to prove that the goods are in fact defective and that loss or damage resulted as a consequence thereof.
   • An importer, producer, distributor or retailer may, however, as a defence, state that the defect or hazard that made the goods unsafe was not present at the time that it supplied the goods or, in the case of a distributor or retailer of goods, who is not engaged in the manufacturing or importing of goods, that it is not reasonable to have expected them to have discovered a defect in respect of the goods when considering the role they played.
   • Harm for which the importer or producer, distributor, or retailer may be held liable for is the death of, or injury to, a natural person, an illness of a natural person, any loss of, or physical damage to, any property, irrespective of whether it is movable or immovable and/or economic loss that results from the foregoing.

1. Policy Statement

   • Responsibilities
   • Site Manager/Owner
   • In the event of the company becoming aware of an already dispatched non-conforming product, [Name(s) of the responsible person(s)] will initiate the following product recall procedure:
   • Withdrawal and Recall Procedure
   • Key staff & management are to be informed immediately.
   • Non-conforming product details are to be obtained from records using the traceability system, by using the batch codes that we attain from suppliers in order to comply with traceability.
   • Details of supplier (where applicable), delivery destination, and quantity of all non-conforming products, are to be ascertained and documented.
   • The contact at the suppliers (where applicable) and delivery destination are to be contacted as soon as possible thereafter. Details of the non-conforming product will be given to this/these person(s) and a recall request made to isolate the non-conforming product for return. A record of this contact will be maintained. Where deemed necessary (e.g. in case of difficulty in contacting the customer), emails or registered letters will also be dispatched or contact in person attempted.
   • All recalled, withdrawn or returned products will be examined by the Padstal Manager or the Farmstall Floor Manager.
   • They will decide on the fate of the product after the investigation is completed i.e. consigned to waste (all recalled and withdrawn products, or unusable returns), or reworked / re-graded (for a product that is of acceptable quality)
   • On the return of the non-conforming product to the site, the product label is to be used to identify the product according to the company traceability system.
   • All product from the same batch and deemed related product is to be investigated and their conforming/non-conforming status reassessed. If deemed related, this must also be recalled in accordance with this procedure.
   • If a situation arises where a known non-conforming product has reached the final consumer, all necessary resources are to be used to establish the identity of the consumer and notify the consumer of the problem, and retrieve the non-conforming product as soon as possible.
   • If necessary, a product recall notification may be prepared to detail;

     • Farm/Company Name
     • Product Name
     • Product Details
     • Batch Identification Code
     • Reasons for Recall
     • Action Required
     • Contact Details

   • If it is established that recalled product has been resold over a wide area to unknown consumers, the printed media (and radio) will be used to issue a product recall notice.
   • All available resources shall be used to protect the customer from harm in such circumstances.
   • The cause of the issue shall be fully investigated and corrective action implemented and verified with the Competent Authority before the resumption of normal business.
   • A withdrawal/recall record must be maintained to capture all appropriate information about the food recall/withdrawal. The abovementioned managers as per clause 4.9 must ensure that the record is maintained up to date during the recall/withdrawal and is verified, signed, and dated upon completion of the withdrawal/recall. This record will include:

     • List of all communications (including phone calls), their time, date, name of the person, and brief details of the communication.
     • Any actions/decisions made.

   • A detailed investigation will be carried out following for the non-conformance:

     • Determine what may have gone wrong in the process.
     • Quantify the product affected.
     • Determine the degree, if any to which the safety and quality of the product have been affected.
     • Document results of any analysis carried out on the non-conforming product.
     • Document details of corrective action carried out to (a) ensure the product was dealt with in a food-safe manner and (b) to prevent recurrence of non-conformance. Reference any staff training that may be required as part of the corrective action.

   • All documentation relating to the issue will be collated and made available to the Competent Authority.
   • This withdrawal/recall procedure will be tested on an annual basis to ensure its continued validity, the procedure listed above followed, and the relevant information recorded in the withdrawal/recall record.

1. Enforcement 

An employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. A violation of this policy by a temporary worker, contractor, or vendor may result in the termination of their contract or assignment with the Company.