Non-conforming food products that reach consumers create potential for consumer harm and negative financial consequences for recalling firms. Food quality management systems are therefore of critical importance to consumers, policy-makers, and firms. In addition to implementing a Food Safety Management System (FSMS) for regulatory compliance, a firm may invest in a certified FSMS that enables downstream traceability. Downstream traceability is the ability to follow a product through the supply chain from production to point of sale. We use information processing theory (IPT) and supply chain coordination theory (SCCT) to hypothesize that downstream traceability improves integration and coordination, and hence, outcomes, of a product recall. Evaluating the role of downstream traceability systems in enabling firms to manage quality failures and associated outcomes is relevant because managers and policy-makers need to understand incentives for making such investments. We empirically investigate the effect of downstream traceability on the length of time unsafe product is in distribution, number of products recalled, incidence of product harm, and shareholder value using event study and regression methods in a sample of 211 food recalls announced in the United States (U.S.) from 2007–2013. We find downstream traceability enhances food safety by reducing time in distribution and number of products, but is not significant with respect to product harm. Furthermore, this capability mitigates negative shareholder value impacts. These findings suggest that downstream traceability is both fiscally and socially responsible. These results contribute to the extant academic literature and offer new insights to both practitioners and policy-makers.

接触消费者的不合格食品会给消费者造成伤害的可能性，并给召回公司带来负面的财务后果。因此，食品质量管理体系对消费者，决策者和企业至关重要。除了实施食品安全管理体系（FSMS）以便遵守法规外，企业还可以投资经过认证的FSMS，以实现下游可追溯性。下游可追溯性是指从生产到销售的整个供应链中跟踪产品的能力。我们使用信息处理理论（IPT）和供应链协调理论（SCCT）来假设下游可追溯性改善了产品召回的整合和协调，从而提高了产品召回的结果。评估下游可追溯性系统在使公司能够管理质量缺陷和相关结果方面的作用非常重要，因为管理人员和决策者需要了解进行此类投资的动机。我们使用事件研究和回归方法，在美国宣布的211种食品召回样本中，通过经验研究了下游可追溯性对不安全产品分销时间，召回产品数量，产品危害发生率以及股东价值的影响。 （美国）从2007年至2013年。我们发现下游可追溯性通过减少产品分配和数量的时间来提高食品安全性，但是对于产品危害而言却并不重要。此外，此功能可减轻对股东价值的负面影响。这些发现表明，下游可追溯性在财政和社会方面均负有责任。这些结果有助于现有的学术文献，并为从业者和决策者提供了新的见解。