Product recall — the withdrawal of food from the market and its recall from consumers — is the practical expression of the emergency measures and crisis management system. When food or animal feed contains a serious risk to human or animal health, the state agency immediately selects an appropriate measure, and the business operator must account for it. On this page we explain how the emergency measures regime works, what the crisis management plan provides, and what liability follows from placing expired food on the market.
Emergency measures regarding local food
Where it is substantiated that food or animal feed contains a serious risk to human or animal health and cannot be avoided by existing means and resources, the agency must, taking into account the gravity of the situation, take measures in the manner established by law. Regarding products of local origin this means: suspending the placing of the food on the market for a definite period; timely informing the population about temporarily refraining from consumption; defining special requirements regarding food identified as carrying high risk on the basis of risk analysis; or taking other appropriate emergency measures provided by law. Beneath these measures lies what is popularly called a product recall: removal from the market and communication to the consumer.