Keeping Consumers Safe – How J. Quattrocchi & Co. Handles Recalls

Challenge Overview

A complicated spinach recall across multiple product lines.

Solution Highlights

The track and trace features of WinFDS® allowed JQ&Co. to manage the recall efficiently and effectively.

Founded in 1922, J. Quattrocchi & Co. is a Canadian produce distributor, forming an important link in the supply chain that links farm to table. As a client of Food Distribution Software since 1989, JQ&Co. has been using WinFDS® software in many aspects of their business to improve efficiency, their customer’s ordering experience, and inventory control.

As part of their function as a produce distributor, JQ&Co. is responsible for handling recalls of unsafe or contaminated goods, which can be an extremely complicated process. An example of one such recall was a crop of spinach contaminated with E.Coli that had been sold to customers in Canada and the United States. Due to uncertainty in the source of contamination, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a spinach recall as a precautionary measure.

As restaurant retailers and foodservice operators must minimize harm to consumers by getting possibly contaminated products out of their inventory, food distributors face pressure to quickly produce accurate and relevant information to the regulatory agencies managing the recall. For JQ&Co., the inventory and recall capabilities offered by WinFDS® played an instrumental role in being able to access and reproduce all the product records in a timely and efficient manner.

Using WinFDS, JQ&Co. was able to quickly obtain a product history for all the spinach that was being recalled. The recalled spinach was also distributed in a “spring mix” package but because WinFDS® tracks products though all its manufacturing and distribution stages, JQ&Co. was able to quickly identify and recall the packages that may have been contaminated. The software provided them with the ability to work in cooperation with regulatory agencies to safeguard the safety of consumers by getting the recalled produce out of store’s inventories.

In addition to the track and trace features that make handling product recalls significantly easier on distributors, WinFDS® offers lot control management and HACCP reporting to assist in compliance with the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. With WinFDS®, JQ&Co. was able to work collaboratively with Canadian and American regulatory agencies to protect consumers from potentially harmful produce items. Their ability to manage, maintain, and reproduce records were essential to the success of the spinach recall.

Food Industry Software Built For You

Since 1978, Food Decision Software has been building, supporting, and perfecting a complete package of software for food distributors and food manufacturers that offers full inventory and purchasing control, streamlines your customers’ ordering process, and automates time-consuming tasks for employees. Contact us for a personalized demonstration and see how WinFDS® can revolutionize your food business.