As publisher of Quality Digest Daily, I often take a somewhat dispassionate view of process and performance errors. After all, our typical reader is a quality professional whose job, in part, is to figure out why something went wrong and prevent it from occurring again.

From that perspective, a recall, whether it be in the automotive, pharmaceutical, medical device, or food and beverage sectors, is simply a big, broad, attention-getting opportunity to talk about root cause analysis and corrective and preventive action (CAPA). We may present a recall story as a reason for our readers to do a little benchmarking. We may even consider the marketing and public relations implications as they apply to the future success or failure of the particular product and brand undergoing the recall.

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