“We used Rapid Recall Exchange three times already,” she said in a session at the Food Marketing Institute’s Midwinter Executive Conference. “It’s not perfect, but it’s clearly an improvement over what was done in the past. It saves us time, and in a recall situation time is precious. We’re very pleased with this effort.”

Marmer and other speakers urged more suppliers and all retailers to join the program, which is the result of collaboration between FMI, Grocery Manufacturers Association and GS1 US. There are now 142 companies subscribed to the portal, which was launched in September 2009. Those subscribers include 84 retailers and wholesalers and 58 suppliers. The portal has been involved in seven recalls since the launch.

The portal enables suppliers to communicate information to retailers and wholesalers, and a recent addition is “two-way messaging” in which “the receiver of information can communicate back to suppliers” for more information, said Leslie Sarasin, FMI’s president and CEO.

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