Product Recall Management Guide for Veeqo Sellers

The Recall Nightmare: When You Can't Identify Affected Customers

Your supplier calls: "We're recalling lot XYZ-123 due to contamination. You need to notify all affected customers within 24 hours." Your heart sinks. You have no idea which customers received that specific lot.

Without batch-level tracking, you face two terrible options: (1) Recall ALL inventory of that product (not just the affected lot), destroying customer trust and costing tens of thousands in unnecessary returns, or (2) Try to manually piece together which orders might have received the bad lot by reviewing thousands of orders and hoping your spreadsheets are accurate.

Why Product Recalls Happen and Why Batch Tracking Matters

Product recalls are more common than most businesses realize. The FDA issues hundreds of recall notices annually across food, supplements, cosmetics, and medical products. Common reasons include:

• Contamination - Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli in food; microbial contamination in cosmetics
• Undeclared allergens - Missing allergen warnings (milk, soy, tree nuts, eggs)
• Foreign objects - Metal fragments, glass, plastic in food or supplements
• Labeling errors - Wrong ingredients listed, incorrect dosage information
• Quality issues - Potency failures in supplements, formulation errors
• Packaging defects - Leaking containers, compromised seals, expiration date errors

Almost all recalls affect specific manufacturing lots, not entire product lines. A contamination issue in one production run doesn't affect batches made on different days or at different facilities. This is why batch-level traceability is critical — you need to know exactly which customers received product from the affected lot.

How to Execute a Recall with Batch Tracking

TraceLot's batch tracking system turns a multi-day crisis into a structured process that takes hours, not weeks:

1. Receive recall notification - Supplier or internal testing identifies that lot XYZ-123 has a quality issue requiring recall
2. Query batch records (5 minutes) - Search TraceLot for lot number XYZ-123 to instantly see all orders that received product from that batch
3. Generate customer list (2 minutes) - Export complete list with customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, order numbers, quantities, and ship dates
4. Draft recall notification (30 minutes) - Prepare customer notification explaining issue, health risks, return instructions, and refund process
5. Notify customers (2-4 hours) - Send email notifications, make phone calls for high-risk recalls, send registered mail for serious issues
6. Document and report (1 hour) - Provide FDA with traceability records, customer notification proof, and recall action plan
7. Process returns and track effectiveness - Monitor customer responses, process refunds, track product destruction, verify recall effectiveness

Real Recall Scenario: Food Contamination

Let's walk through a real-world recall scenario to understand how batch tracking changes everything:

Without batch tracking:

• Review receiving records to find when lot PF-2024-08-15 arrived
• Manually examine 2,000+ orders shipped during that time period
• Cross-reference inventory movements, try to determine which orders got that specific lot
• Realize your spreadsheets don't track lot-level allocation
• Decision: Recall ALL shipments of that product from August (not just affected lot)
• Contact 847 customers instead of actual 247 affected customers
• Cost: $85,000 in unnecessary returns, destroyed inventory, and brand damage
• Miss FDA 24-hour deadline by 4 days

With TraceLot batch tracking:

• Monday 9:15am: Search TraceLot for lot "PF-2024-08-15"
• System shows 247 orders containing that lot
• Export customer list with contact details in 2 minutes
• Draft recall notification (30 minutes)
• Monday 12:00pm: Email notifications sent to 247 customers
• Monday 2-5pm: Follow-up phone calls for high-risk customers
• Monday 5:30pm: Submit FDA documentation with complete traceability
• Cost: $7,200 in targeted returns and customer service
• FDA deadline met with 16 hours to spare

The difference: $77,800 saved, 600 unnecessary customer contacts avoided, FDA compliance maintained, and brand reputation protected through fast, professional response.

FDA Requirements for Product Recalls

The FDA has specific requirements for recalls depending on product type and severity:

• Class I Recalls (Serious health hazard) - Immediate notification within 24 hours, registered mail required, FDA oversight throughout process
• Class II Recalls (Temporary health issue) - Notification within 24-48 hours, email and phone acceptable, regular FDA updates required
• Class III Recalls (No health risk) - Notification within reasonable timeframe, less regulatory oversight but still requires documentation
• FSMA Traceability Requirements - For food on FDA Traceability List, must provide complete lot-level records immediately upon request
• 21 CFR 111 (Dietary Supplements) - Must maintain batch production records and traceability for all supplement lots

Regardless of class, you must be able to identify which specific customers received the affected lot number. This is impossible without batch-level tracking at the order level.

The True Cost of Product Recalls

Recall costs vary dramatically based on how fast you can identify affected customers:

The 10-100x cost difference is almost entirely about how fast you can identify affected customers. Batch tracking makes the difference between a contained incident and a business-threatening crisis.

Recall Readiness: Preparing Before Crisis Hits

The time to prepare for recalls is before they happen, not during a crisis. Here's how to ensure recall readiness:

• Implement batch tracking now - Don't wait for a recall to add lot-level traceability. TraceLot integrates with Veeqo in under 2 hours.
• Test your recall process quarterly - Pick a random lot number and see how fast you can generate the affected customer list. If it takes more than 10 minutes, your system isn't recall-ready.
• Prepare notification templates - Draft email, phone script, and mail templates in advance so you're not writing from scratch during a crisis.
• Document your suppliers' lot coding systems - Understand how your manufacturers assign lot numbers so you can quickly map supplier lots to your batches.
• Train your team - Everyone should know the recall process: who's responsible for what, communication protocols, and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain accurate contact information - Outdated customer emails and phone numbers make recalls significantly harder. Keep contact data current.

Preventing Recalls: Catching Issues Before They Ship

The best recall is the one that never happens. Batch tracking also helps prevent recalls by catching issues before products reach customers:

• Expiry date enforcement - FEFO allocation prevents expired products from shipping, eliminating one common recall trigger
• Quality holds - Quarantine batches pending testing results before they ship to customers
• Supplier quality trends - Track which suppliers or co-manufacturers have recurring issues, enabling proactive sourcing changes
• Batch-level notes - Document quality concerns, testing results, or customer feedback at the batch level for early issue detection
• Expiry forecasting - Identify batches at risk of expiring before they sell, preventing both waste and potential recalls of near-expired products