Jackie Healing
Coles Supermarkets
Australia
Title: Retailer perspective - Global supply chain best practices
Biography
Biography: Jackie Healing
Abstract
Food allergies continue to be one of the greatest causes of product recall and withdrawal globally causing financial and emotional burden to retailers, manufacturers and consumers. Mislabelling is all too commonly the cause of product being removed from sale and yet we, in the industry, could be accused of making the situation worse by taking a very risk adverse approach to the subject of allergen labelling. The VITAL (Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling) tool, developed by the Allergen Bureau, gives a standardised allergen risk assessment process for the food industry. It provides manufacturers, retailers and consumers with practical scientifically based allergen labeling guidelines taking into account the allergen thresholds. It also gives a clear recommendation for allergen labeling warnings which means a consistent approach is used on all products easing decision making both for manufacturers and customers. Customers appreciate the increased product choice they have as a result and the industry benefits from a more pragmatic approach. Overall cost savings result through the reduction in number of unnecessary product withdrawals. In this short presentation you will hear how the tool works in practice with some examples taken from Jackie’s’ experience managing food safety for retailers globally.