Bowtie — Undeclared Allergen in a Ready Meal
Food safety bowtie for undeclared allergen reaching a retail ready meal, ranking barcode reconciliation at the packing line as the one barrier whose removal multiplies residual risk almost fourfold.
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title "Undeclared allergen reaches a retail ready meal"
hazard "Milk, gluten and nut allergens handled on shared production lines"
top "Product reaches retail with an undeclared allergen"
unit "/yr"
threat "Supplier changes a recipe without notifying us" likelihood: 1.2 {
barrier "Contractual specification change notification" effectiveness: 0.6 type: control {
escalation "Second-tier supplier substitution is invisible to us" {
control "Annual supply chain mapping to the second tier"
}
}
barrier "Goods-in certificate of analysis check" effectiveness: 0.55 type: detection
}
threat "Cross-contact during a line changeover" likelihood: 6.0 {
barrier "Validated allergen clean between products" effectiveness: 0.85 type: control {
escalation "Clean shortened to recover a late schedule" {
control "Changeover clean signed off by shift quality only"
}
}
barrier "Protein swab verification before restart" effectiveness: 0.7 type: detection
barrier "Allergen-sequenced production schedule" effectiveness: 0.5 type: control
}
threat "Wrong label applied at the packing line" likelihood: 3.5 {
barrier "Barcode reconciliation of label to work order" effectiveness: 0.9 type: detection
barrier "Label reel change witnessed by a second operator" effectiveness: 0.45
}
threat "Artwork error survives the approval chain" likelihood: 0.8 {
barrier "Three-stage artwork proofing with technical sign-off" effectiveness: 0.75 type: control
barrier "Pre-launch allergen declaration audit" effectiveness: 0.5 type: detection
}
consequence "Anaphylaxis in an allergic consumer" severity: 5 {
barrier "Consumer care line triage and medical escalation" effectiveness: 0.4 type: recovery
barrier "Rapid point-of-sale withdrawal within 4 hours" effectiveness: 0.65 type: recovery
}
consequence "National product recall" severity: 4 {
barrier "Traceability to one hour of production" effectiveness: 0.8 type: recovery {
escalation "Rework batches break the traceability chain" {
control "Rework logged against the receiving batch only"
}
}
barrier "Retailer recall notice within 24 hours" effectiveness: 0.6 type: recovery
}
consequence "Delisting by the retailer" severity: 3 {
barrier "Corrective action plan agreed with technical manager" effectiveness: 0.45 type: recovery
}
consequence "Prosecution under food information regulations" severity: 3 {
barrier "Documented due diligence defence pack" effectiveness: 0.4 type: recovery
}