By Roger Hancock, CEO of Recall InfoLink
Key takeaways:
The ByHeart infant formula recall shows what happens when supply chain communication breaks down. Contaminated product stays on shelves, public health risk extends, and liability spreads across every partner who failed to act.
Finger-pointing over fault distracts from the real problem: process failure. Every company in the supply chain shares responsibility for recall execution, regardless of who caused the contamination.
Resilience isn’t reactive. It’s built before a recall happens through shared systems, aligned partners, and practiced response protocols that allow the chain to move fast and together when it counts.
The recent ByHeart infant formula recall demonstrated the fallout that can occur when a recall is handled poorly. After the formula manufacturer initiated the recall, breakdowns across the supply chain complicated the situation, leading to prolonged public health risk, reputational damage, loss of consumer trust — and many questions about responsibility, accountability, and liability.
Poor, unclear, and delayed communication caused confusion and chaos, including which specific lots had been recalled and what action was needed. In some cases, supply chain partners, including retailers, weren’t even aware of the recall. As a result, the contaminated formula remained in the marketplace, prolonging public health risk and causing frustration and outrage among consumers.
News that ByHeart’s formula contamination may have actually begun years ago, long before the manufacturer issued the recall, led to deep concerns about the company’s safety and quality processes. Additionally, there were questions about the effectiveness of the nation’s food inspection and regulatory systems overall. When ByHeart ultimately expanded the recall scope, it led to increased disruption, expense, and brand scrutiny.
Ultimately, 48 infants were sickened by the recalled formula, leading to collective questioning about why this happened and who was to blame.
Finger pointing distracts from the real issue
Understandably, people have concerns when a recall happens, especially when it affects their families directly, and they want to know who’s at fault for the recall. The public, media, and even the recalling companies’ trading partners often point fingers and demand accountability. However, focusing on who’s at fault can pull attention away from addressing the real issue: process breakdown.
While a manufacturer or their supplier may be responsible for the source of contamination, if a distributor continues to ship recalled product, or a retailer continues to sell contaminated product, liability becomes a complicated question. But the most pressing issue isn’t who’s to blame, but how did the process break down?
Consider that:
Liability often follows failure. In many cases, whoever drops the ball is the one most exposed. It’s essential to collaborate with trading partners, communicate quickly and clearly, and execute recalls well. When supply chains work together to respond properly to recalls, they can help mitigate exposure to legal consequences across the chain. This helps reduce harm, preserve trust, and prevent liability from becoming a front-page issue. Of course, the converse is also true. As we saw in the ByHeart recall, if trading partners don’t work collaboratively, communicate well, and contain the damage, it can dramatically increase risks, disruptions, costs, liability — and even reputational damage.
Liability shouldn’t be the driving question. Every company across the supply chain has a duty to act on recalls, regardless of who may be at fault. This isn’t just about moral or ethical considerations. It’s about making every effort to protect public health, your brand, and your trading partners. Instead of liability, focus on responsibility, accountability, and execution. Responsibility must be shared, with every company across the chain working to protect consumers by acting swiftly and properly when risk is identified. Understand that accountability can shift, depending on contracts, regulatory findings, where breakdowns occurred, etc. And during the execution phase, each company must do its part to help protect itself, its trading partners, and the public from unnecessary risk and damage.
Boosting resilience can help reduce liability. Becoming resilient is a deliberate, proactive process, built on preparation. Resilient supply chains share systems and data, align partners, and practice responses before a recall occurs. True resilience assumes disruption will happen and prepares as a supply chain to respond with clarity, cooperation, and control when it does. When supply chains work together to become resilient — replacing siloed systems and fragmented workflows with connected data, open communication, shared systems, and coordinated action — trading partners respond quickly and appropriately, protecting themselves and the public. As a result, they’ll likely experience less damage, disruption, expense, and liability.
The ByHeart incident is a lesson in the importance of resilience. In the food sector, resilience is more than simply enduring a crisis you weren’t prepared for. True resilience is deliberate and collaborative. It’s a proactive effort where trading partners work together to plan, practice, and coordinate, sharing systems, processes, and data long before a recall incident occurs.
Make recalls a shared supply chain process
During a recall, every company across the supply chain has an obligation to help protect public health. The food industry must shift from thinking of recalls as individual company activities, and instead view these events as a shared supply chain process. In other words, it’s not enough to do the right thing at the manufacturing level if your retail partners continue to sell your recalled product. Trading partners must adopt a collaborative approach with the shared goal of recall effectiveness, regardless of who may be at fault for a safety breach.
When companies shift from asking am I liable and instead ask have I done my part to reduce risk, protect public health, and prevent future incidents from occurring, they can more effectively protect public health, their brand, and their trading partners.
Instead of focusing on who’s liable, companies must do everything they can to become better prepared, more collaborative, and more resilient. The food industry needs more preparation, transparency, communication, and cooperation. It’s also important to embrace a culture of continuous improvement, learning from each incident what to do (and not do) to protect public health, brand reputation, and consumer trust.
Roger Hancock, CEO of Recall InfoLink, is one of the world’s foremost experts on recalls, with experience that spans the retail, tech, data, regulatory, and supply chain. Recall InfoLink makes recalls faster, easier, and more accurate across the supply chain to protect consumers and brands. As the only company focused entirely on recalls, Recall InfoLink’s solutions drive immediate action, streamline the recall process, and simplify compliance. Roger is also a steering committee member of the Alliance for Recall Ready Communities.
