I hear it often when talking to produce companies about recall planning. “We do very well in our mock recalls,” implying that this proves the company is prepared for a recall.

Most retail and many foodservice customers require their suppliers to go through regular “mock recalls.” According to produce suppliers, these entail being given a product code and having to trace it (including ingredients) backward and forward along the supply chain within a designated time frame.

A worthy effort no doubt, and while this may have been challenging for companies 10 years ago, it isn’t surprising that companies today carry out these mock recalls with ease.

Flawless traceability and recordkeeping are critical when calculating the scope of a recall, but a recall involves so much more. Either because of the name or because companies simply don’t know what a recall involves, produce executives want to believe that these mock recalls are an indication of how the company might perform if it were ever faced with a recall situation. But, despite their name, these exercises are far from being mock recalls.

A true mock recall should not just include the collection of product traceability information, it should also simulate the decision-making process. A recall simulation is a much bigger commitment than a traceability exercise. It requires more time and more involvement from management. A simulation should test various food-safety, information, and communication policies and processes within the company.

The company’s recall team should meet, assess the information, and then hypothesize what they would do if they had to recall the implicated lot and all associated product. The recall team should go as far as drafting mock communications to various audiences, including regulatory authorities, employees, customers, consumers and media.

And the simulation should take into consideration the steps to perform a health hazard evaluation and root-cause analysis. There should also be an hour or so dedicated to evaluating the company’s performance and making improvements where necessary.

It is only by going through such a simulation that a company will truly know how prepared it is — or is not — to handle a recall. And in order to stay ready, it should conduct a recall simulation of this magnitude every 12-18 months.

So let’s just call these “mock recalls” what they are — traceability exercises — no less important but definitely nothing like a recall, and certainly not reflective of how a company may perform in a recall situation. Then use a traceability exercise to test traceability systems, and use a recall simulation to test the company’s recall readiness.

(Amy Philpott is accredited in public relations and the senior director at Watson Green LLC, a public communications firm in Washington, DC, specializing in issue management and risk communications. As a member of the United Fresh Recall Ready Team, Philpott develops recall simulations for produce executives who love their companies and want to learn how to protect them during a recall. For more information about recall simulations and other Recall Ready services, contact her at [email protected], or visit www.unitedfresh.org/recallready.)