Product recalls keep food supply safe Published June 28, 2007 By Lynda Valentine Defense Commissary Agency FORT LEE, Va. -- The Defense Commissary Agency understands customers' concerns regarding food safety and is committed to providing a safe and secure shopping environment for its patrons. When it comes to food safety, DeCA engages its stringent, multitiered system to ensure quick and complete removal of suspect items from store shelves throughout the world whenever a food or product recall is issued. The recall process begins when an item is suspected of being contaminated or otherwise unfit for consumption or use, according to Army Col. Perry Chumley, DeCA's director of public health, safety and security. As soon as DeCA is notified, each commissary is notified. At the Grand Forks AFB Commissary, we are notified by DeCA food inspectors and base food inspectors. We then post notices for customers at the doors and on the shelf. Colonel Chumley said no matter the source, when DeCA receives a recall alert, the first order of business is to determine whether or not the product line or manufacturer is part of the DeCA inventory. That job falls to DeCA's sales directorate, which purchases and tracks the thousands of products bought for resale in the commissary system. If any commissary stocks the same brand name as the item in the recall, the sales directorate staff determines if the product DeCA sells matches the actual product being recalled. This is the part of the advisory or recall process that confuses most customers. When a lot number matches the item being recalled, the matching lot numbers are immediately removed from the shelves and placed on hold. Some companies, however, will ask DeCA to remove its entire stock of a product even if only one lot number in their company's line is recalled. Other times, companies will request that just the item indicated in the recall be removed, leaving other products with the same name on the shelves for customers. This is why an entire product line may be removed following a recall, but why other times similar products remain on the shelves for commissary patrons. Items listed on a recall go into the medical holding areas of commissaries, where signs are placed on the items stating they are on medical hold. Each commissary has an employee responsible for ensuring every item remains off the shelf until either cleared for sale or removed from the facility. That employee counts the items when they are put into the holding area and ensures that the initial count remains the same until the items are released for sale or removed from the facility. To ensure there are no mix-ups along the way, "numerous redundancies are built into the system, both internal and external to DeCA," said Colonel Chumley. "In addition, anytime a recall comes out through the media and before they get the word from us, local commissary managers have the authority to pull items off their shelves if they feel the items might not be safe." For information about recalls and other items of interest at your local commissary, log onto http://www.commissaries.com.