Technology To The Rescue: Computers generate alert to move food

Author: Google Links Directory

It can take time for a food producer and its governing agency to work out the logistics of a recall, but large retailers say they are able to act quickly once recalls are issued, thanks to technology.At East-Bridgewater based Shaw's supermarkets, Dennis Kwiver, director of food safety, says 80 percent of the company's stores usually have an item recalled for safety reasons off the shelf within 45 minutes.He said it's because of a computer system that displays a glaring red box on computer monitors in departments throughout the company's 210 stores, alerting managers when an item is recalled.While that's happening, the company's information technology department can immediately place a block on its check-out scanners.
If a customer puts a recalled item in their cart before store employees can get it off the shelves, the check-out scanner won't allow the purchase to go through.The company's guideline is all recalled products should be removed, isolated and labeled as recalled within three hours, but Kwiver says that the process is typically so quick that if a store hasn't confirmed the items were removed within two hours, he and his team usually call to make sure.It was a lot more cumbersome years ago,'' said Kwiver, who has been with Shaw's for 18 years.On rare occasions, Kwiver said, the store has contacted a customer who bought a recalled product through information stored on their discount card.