System for Australian Recall Actions (SARA): instructions for searching

When searching the Database please select:

1. Type of product
2. Products
3. Date range

1. Type of product

Select medicine, medical device, biological or all.

Note: The type of product is defaulted to search on all products.

2. Products

To search for all recall actions, leave the "Select products" field blank and click search.

Alternatively, if you know the name of the product, active ingredient or the ARTG number you want to search for then enter the first 3-5 characters into the "Select products" field.

After you have entered the first 3-5 characters, a suggestion list of product names will appear. Select the product(s) you want to search for by ticking the relevant box(es). For example, to conduct a search by product name, type in the start of the product name in the "Select products" field and tick the box for each relevant product.

Searches on active ingredient names and trade names require a minimum of 3 characters (letters or a combination of letters and numbers) and may produce different results in many cases, because many active ingredients are marketed by different companies under different trade names. ARTG number searches require a minimum of 5 numbers to be entered in the "Select products" field before a suggestion list is displayed.

• Active ingredient searches will usually give the most informative results for medicines, especially if they are marketed under multiple trade names.
• Trade name searches are particularly useful for medical devices and biologicals.

3. Date range

To select a start date and end date for your search you need to choose a year, month and day. Ensure the 'to' date is after the 'from' date. Recall actions are included into SARA two days (excluding weekends) after the decision between the responsible entity (sponsor/supplier/importer) and the TGA to commence the recall action. This allows time for the responsible entity to distribute the recall communication.

In certain circumstances (e.g. consumer level recalls, actions involving implantable medical devices, or other noteworthy actions), a notice is also published on the alerts page.

Note: The date range in SARA is defaulted to the maximum available date range.

Search results

There are two types of results:

• Search result summary - this report will show a list of recall actions that match the search criteria. From this list, a specific recall action can then be selected to view the detailed information about that recall action.
• Detail notification - this report shows information about a specific recall action that has been selected from the list. It provides greater detail than is viewable in the summary list of recall actions.

Further information about search results is available at System for Australian Recalls Actions (SARA): about the search results.