The continued expansion of global supply chains is damaging food safety levels and causing recall sprawl in the food industry, according to the latest Stericycle European Recall and Notification Index. As countries including Brazil and Vietnam become integral to the European food economy, the challenges of distance are evident in the form of more safety notifications.

The overall number of notifications across food, consumer goods and automotive increased by 16% quarter-on-quarter. While the overall food category only increased by 9%, there were spikes in different industries – for example meat (non-poultry) increased by 7%.

Meat imports into Europe are just one category on the rise and the distance travelled can cause problems. New Zealand was the country of origin for 44% of meat recalls in Q2 2014. The problem was largely found within frozen lamb.

"The global food industry is diverse, dispersed and incredibly dynamic," comments recall expert Farzad Henareh, European managing director at Stericycle ExpertSolutions. "This means more frozen produce and a slower response to acute shifts in supply and demand month-by-month. The outcome is instability and ultimately product safety issues – as we can see in this quarters figures."