Form library · Food safety
Product recall template
For food businesses rehearsing recall arrangements. Record simulation brief, response timeline and batch reconciliation. Try the form below, see every question or download a blank PDF or Word copy.
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How does an exercise support recall readiness?
FSA guidance covers planning for food withdrawals and recalls, including traceability and incident response. An exercise can test those arrangements; an actual food incident requires the business to follow the applicable reporting and response process.
Last updated . Facts checked by the SiteSurvey team on 6 October 2026 against FSA food traceability withdrawal and recall guidance and GOV.UK food incidents withdrawals and recalls.
Try the food product recall exercise form live
Answer a few questions and watch it adapt. Your answers are not saved, and any photos you add are deleted within the hour.
This is the real form as your team would use it: questions appear as you answer, scores work themselves out and you can add photos and signatures. No sign-up needed.
Want to see one filled in? See a completed food product recall exercise report (PDF), made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit.
Fill it in on a phone or tablet
Your team completes the food product recall exercise on site in the SiteSurvey app on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. The project name and address fill in for them, it works without signal, and it syncs when the device is back online with photos kept against the question they answer.
Customers and subcontractors do not need the app: send them a link and they can fill it in from any browser.
Every question in the food product recall exercise template
A food recall exercise record covering the simulated issue, affected batches, traceability evidence, contact routes, reconciliation and improvement actions. 6 sections and 33 questions. Follow-up questions and guidance appear only when an answer calls for them, so the person on site never sees the ones that do not apply.
Make it your own: every question is editable
This is a starting point, not a fixed form. Once it is in your SiteSurvey account you can reword any question, add or remove questions, sections and answer options, and add your own logo, so it fits the way your team works and the jobs you do.
Details you only enter once
Add this form to a project in SiteSurvey and it fills in what the project already knows, so nobody on site retypes it and every form on the job uses the same names. Anything filled in can still be changed.
- Project: the project name
- Site or premises address: the site address, from the space or the project
- Client or organisation: the project's customer
Record details and scope
- ProjectShort answer
Filled in from the project in SiteSurvey.
Fills in from the project name - Site or premises addressShort answerFills in from the site address, from the space or the project
- Client or organisationShort answerFills in from the project's customer
- Record date*Date
- Person completing the record*Short answer
- CheckThis is a simulated food recall exercise, not a public recall notice, an assessment of whether food is unsafe or an automatic notification tool. It does not cover all non-food product regimes.
- CheckFSA guidance covers planning for food withdrawals and recalls, including traceability and incident response. An exercise can test those arrangements; an actual food incident requires the business to follow the applicable reporting and response process.
Simulation brief
- Simulated issue, product and batches*Short answer
- Approved recall procedure reference*Short answer
- Exercise leader and participants*Short answer
- How exercise communications are clearly marked as simulation*Short answer
Response timeline
- Exercise eventRepeat for each exercise event. Each one asks:
- Date/time*Short answer
- Decision or simulated contact*Short answer
- Responsible role*Short answer
- Evidence or contact-list reference*Short answer
- Delay or gap identifiedNotes
Batch reconciliation
- Traceability exercise/report reference*Short answer
- Distributed quantity and unit*Short answer
- Quantity located, held or simulated recovered*Short answer
- Unreconciled quantity and explanation*Notes
- Simulated disposition plan referenceShort answer
Debrief
- Contact, decision and retrieval weaknesses*Notes
Label the record as an exercise and compare the simulated response with the plan. Avoid accidentally issuing a real recall communication.
- Retest scope and responsible personShort answer
- ReviewerShort answer
Actions and review
- Are further actions required?*Choose one
- Yes
- No
- Further actionRepeat for each further action. Each one asks:Shown when “Are further actions required?” is “Yes”
- Action and evidence reference*Notes
- Person responsible*Short answer
- Target dateDate
- Action status*Choose one
- Open
- In progress
- Completed
- Completion evidence*NotesShown when “Action status” is “Completed”
- Outstanding limitations and information to pass onNotes
- Record status*Choose one
- Ready for review
- Further work needed
- Work or use stopped
- Reviewed byShort answer
- Review dateDate
- Author signature*Signature
- CheckSigning records the information entered. It does not itself certify legal compliance, remove a limitation or authorise unsafe work.
Scope and responsibility
This is a simulated food recall exercise, not a public recall notice, an assessment of whether food is unsafe or an automatic notification tool. It does not cover all non-food product regimes.
What a useful entry looks like
Contact, decision and retrieval weaknesses
Label the record as an exercise and compare the simulated response with the plan. Avoid accidentally issuing a real recall communication.
EXERCISE ONLY: simulated batch traced through the contact process. One unavailable contact and the reconciliation delay were recorded for improvement.
Fictional example of record wording. Use the actual evidence and approved arrangements for your job; this is not a completed report or an instruction to carry out the work.
See it filled in
A completed food product recall exercise report, made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit: every answer, the photos, the guidance that applied and the sign-off, ready to send as a PDF.
Food Product Recall Exercise FAQs
How should I record “Contact, decision and retrieval weaknesses”?
Label the record as an exercise and compare the simulated response with the plan. Avoid accidentally issuing a real recall communication.
Will this send a public recall notice?
No. It records an exercise and does not publish or send communications.
What if the exercise reveals a real safety issue?
Stop treating it solely as a simulation and escalate through the actual food incident process.
Is this the same as a traceability exercise?
No. It also tests decision roles, communication routes and response coordination.
What are the limits of this template?
This is a simulated food recall exercise, not a public recall notice, an assessment of whether food is unsafe or an automatic notification tool. It does not cover all non-food product regimes.
Can I complete this form on site and share the record?
In the SiteSurvey app the form works offline, with signatures recorded against the questions. Share the completed record as a PDF or a link. Dates and action owners are recorded fields; this form does not send reminders or update other systems.
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