Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate strategies to manage product recalls where shortages are a critical threat, with impacts such as loss of life. We aim to identify key supply chain strategies and opportunities for theoretical advancement by taking a resilience perspective on temporary supply chain design. Design/methodology/approach: First, we conducted an impact event analysis of product recalls by exploring the RAPEX database and official statements of individual country regulators. Second, we conducted an exploratory case study with the Cambridge University Hospitals on Personal Protective Equipment to explore product recall risks, utilising an action research methodology. Findings: Additional processes, mainly testing, can compensate for the risks that may arise from temporary supply chains, where changes in location and product design are not possible due to the immediate nature of demand caused by COVID 19 pandemic. This finding reflects on the resilience of designing and implementing temporary supply chains from the perspective of product, process and location. Research limitations/implications: This paper does not employ an in-depth multiple case study methodology. However, we argue that the role of institutional actors in global supply chains and its implications on product safety needs to be empirically studied in order to expand existing supply chain management theories to cover resilience in emerging, mature and temporary supply chains. Practical implications: Managers can learn from the Cambridge University Hospitals case study that a downstream quality inspection system can be deployed to manage product quality and safety risks where recalls are not an option, such as in critical situations during the COVID 19 pandemic. Social implications: Our observations suggest that governments may be socially responsible for implementing rigorous mechanisms to manage product recall risks that compromise consumer safety. Originality/value: Our study is uniquely designed and studies various specific phenomena of product recalls risks during the COVID 19 pandemic. The unique design features include a dynamic and recent database analysis involving a product, process and location centric perspective complemented with a Cambridge University Hospitals case study.