Australia

Food product and safety regulation

Product recalls

Pursuant to the Food Standards Code, manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and

importers of food must have in place a written product recall plan. In the event of a
voluntary product recall, notification must be given to FSANZ, the home State/Territory
coordinator, the ACCC, and the Commonwealth Minister responsible for Consumer
Affairs and Fair Trading.

Under the Australian Consumer Law, the ACCC has powers to issue recall notices in
cases where:

it appears that goods will or may cause injury to any person; or

it appears that reasonably foreseeable use (including a misuse) of such goods will or
may cause injury to any person; or
a safety standard for such goods is in force and the goods do not comply with it; or
an interim or permanent ban on such goods is in force; or
it appears that one or more suppliers of such goods have not taken satisfactory
action to prevent those goods causing injury to any person.

If a recall notice is issued by the ACCC, suppliers are required to take satisfactory
action to prevent the recalled goods causing injury.