(FNS) -- Retailers are dusting off their operations manuals to see what it says under the chapter headlined "Recall Procedures." In some cases, they're finding that it's a story yet to be written.
they are at the center of a recall, following last month's retailer recall incidents involving ground beef.
"Retailers think it's not going to happen to them, but these types of food-safety incidences are going to continue," said Karen Brown, senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute, Washington.
The latest incidents involved separate voluntary recalls conducted by Shaw's Supermarkets, East Bridgewater, Mass., and Costco Cos., Issaquah, Wash.
Prior to the recall, Costco did not have a formal response plan and was forced to develop one as the situation unfolded, according to Tim Rose, senior vice president of food merchandising. "We looked to the industry. The Food Marketing Institute and the National Meat Association provided us with good information," he said.
Part of the increase in food-borne illness cases comes as a result of better reporting systems, improved capabilities in detecting organisms, and new pathogens that seem to breach systems previously thought to have been the gatekeepers of food safety. For example, listeria has been found to survive the pasteurization process and E. coli 0157:H7 is a strain that takes fewer bacteria to make a measurable amount of toxin than other E. coli strains.
"The manner is which these recalls have been handled has been impressive from the very beginning," said Brown. "Their primary concern has been the safety of the public."
While each food-safety situation is different, the FMI has prepared situation handbooks for retailers faced with these challenges. The materials cover basic principles of production, distribution and operations.
"It's the best value for the membership dollar," said Brown. "The handbooks will walk retailers through how to manage using FMI staff expertise and the cumulative experience of retailers. We honed our teeth in the early 1980s with the Tylenol incident. We understand working with government agencies."
Perhaps the most important part of a recall program, such as those mounted by Shaw's and Costco, involves rapid and accurate communication with both the media and customers.
"Retailers want to keep control of their own information," said Brown. "You don't want the government speaking for you. You want to be making your own announcements. You want the information to be accurate. You don't want to speculate, dealing only with facts."
Both operators used the media to get the message out that meat in consumers' refrigerators and freezers should be checked to determine if the specific items under recall were still being stored.
Shaw's, upon becoming aware of the problem June 12, pulled the product and mounted a regional recall campaign. The local media played a key role in the ability of the chain to warn customers of the bacterial contamination, according to spokesman Bernard Rogan. "It was a real team effort," he said. A toll-free number, set up by Shaw's, netted more than 1,500 calls over the first weekend following the outbreak reports.
Jim Sinegal, president and chief executive officer of the operator, then held a news conference just before the Fourth of July holiday, since health officials believed that some of the meat may have been frozen to be used during the weekend. In his remarks, Sinegal urged consumers to return any unused portion of product to the stores for a refund, or to destroy the product.
Costco also established a toll-free phone line to field consumer inquiries. "We got the word out announcing the voluntary recall with the local media, our own Web site and the Associated Press wire," said Costco's Rose.
Sometimes the media inquiries can be overwhelming. Rose said that in the four days following the initial recall notification, Costco fielded more than 300 calls from news organizations. In Costco's case, key management personnel were identified early on in the recall announcement process as media liaisons.
Costco also tapped scan-tracking data to send out postcards to all members whose records included the recalled items' package code, indicating that they had potentially bought the affected items. The operator's system can track the place, date and time of purchases over the previous six weeks.
"This type of information comes in handy when you do things like this," said Rose, referring to use of the data.
The Costco recall involved about 172,000 pounds of frozen ground-beef patties across 24 states. The recall was organized just prior to the Fourth of July holiday weekend following a reported case of E. coli in New York that was traced back to product produced and sold by the membership warehouse operator. The victim became ill after eating meat last April, and was hospitalized several days before recovering at home, said Galanti.
New York state health officials contacted Costco during the third week in June regarding the contaminated meat. The items were removed from operator's shelves and sent to independent testers in addition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to Richard Galanti, chief financial officer for Costco, the independent tests proved negative for the bacteria, though one of the USDA's tests on the same batch eaten by the woman revealed traces of E. coli 0157:H7.
Officials at Costco reported that the contamination was limited to two items packed under its Kirkland private-label line: frozen one-third-of-a-pound Kirkland Signature Ground Sirloin and Loin of Beef Patties, and frozen quarter-pound Kirkland Signature Ground Beef Patties. Both items are packaged in 6-pound packages containing production code dates of either 04/06/98 or 04/07/ 98.
The contaminated meat came from Costco's meat-manufacturing plant in Tracy, Calif., which processes more than one million pounds of ground beef each week. Costco buys its meat from USDA-approved meat suppliers and grinds the meat at the Tracy center.
E. coli 0157:H7 is the same type of bacteria identified as causing illness across New England that spurred the other voluntary recall, conducted by Shaw's, several weeks prior.
The recall at Shaw's, also voluntary, came as a result of a confirmed finding of E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria contaminating in-store-produced ground beef. One out of the five samples taken contained the bacteria, according to Rogan. Following the discovery, all ground product in the chain's 124 units across New England was recalled.
The bacteria were traced back to ground beef produced in a single Shaw's unit located in Keene, N.H., according to Rogan.
