Free-From Product Recall
Let’s put the recent Genius Product Recall (Grocer, 10/6) into proper perspective. We shouldn’t over-react, as the contaminant was between 5 and 80 parts per million which is low and unlikely to cause harm.
Furthermore, to their credit Genius management have been transparent, played the incident completely by the book and are undertaking root cause analysis.
However, it does beg the more broad question as to whether this is just the latest in a long line of seemingly increasingly frequent “one off” product recalls in the free-from category or whether something pretty important is being lost in the scramble for market share, turnover and retailer contracts. New companies have piled into the sector with big marketing budgets as free-from has been a latter-day gold rush.
Whilst that’s broadly to be welcomed as it increases choice, safety must continue to come well ahead of price competition and the necessary scramble for profit.
