The complaints procedure for a food industry company

Complaints Procedure

When a complaint is received from a buyer and/or consumer, it must be registered. The purpose of the complaints procedure is:

• to find out the cause of the complaint.
• to take preventative and corrective measures and prevent further complaints.
• to give the correct settlement to the customer.

Registration of complaints

Of the complaints that come in, many points must be noted to deal with the complaint as quickly and as effectively as possible. The following points are covered on the registration list:

Complaints Registration list

• The date on which the complaint was received;
• Name of the person who received the complaint; this is also the contact person to the buyer and/or consumer;
• Details of the buyer and/or consumer for possible communication to the buyer and/or consumer;
• Product information: product name – best before date – batch code – cash on delivery. Possibly code storage conditions (cool, dry, dark, warm, light, opened, unopened);
• Application (how was the product used);
• Complaint description, what is the exact complaint;
• Determine hazard type: food safety or other;
• Determine whether a recall is necessary and, in that case, start the recall procedure;
• Cause analysis;
• Action and measures taken (corrective, preventive), what has been done with the complaint;
• Communication to the buyer and/or consumer, the buyer and/or consumer is informed of the actions taken;
• Status of the complaint; has it been handled completely?

Answers to the above points can be entered on the registration list for complaints registration.

A trend analysis is carried out on the complaints, and measures can be formulated on the basis of this.