Addressing consumer concerns
Consumers trust us to provide them and their families with products that are safe. Product safety is always considered at the design stage of a new product or process.
Safety comes first
We have an independent safety process for products and new technologies. Decisions on safety are made by our Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC).
Sometimes a product that does not meet our high safety and quality standards is accidentally released into the market. Such a product might, for example, have a quality defect, contamination of raw materials or mislabelling of ingredients.
If this happens, protecting consumers’ safety is our number one priority. If necessary we will recall such products.
During 2009 we had 11 public recalls (compared with five in 2008). We investigate each incident thoroughly to understand the circumstances and to prevent it happening again.
Some consumers are concerned about the presence of particular chemicals in our products. We continue to work in partnership with research organisations, industry partners, NGOs and regulators to strengthen consumer confidence in our products, and try to find alternative ingredients, where appropriate.
We continually review our safety findings and act on the side of caution if anything changes. To read more about product safety, including our principles of Precaution and Substitution, see Confidence in safety.
