WASHINGTON — The Center for Science in the Public Interest will file a lawsuit against Safeway on behalf of customers if it fails to adopt a policy to notify loyalty cardholders who’ve purchased recalled food, it announced Thursday.
Safeway spokeswoman Teena Massingill told SN that the chain already has this type of system in place. “We have and will use Club Card data to contact customers on an individual basis, and the CSPI didn’t have any evidence to the contrary when they sent this letter,” she said.
CSPI notified Safeway earlier this week about the suit after investigating the retailer’s recall practices and finding nothing suggesting that loyalty cardholders are contacted this way, according to Steve Gardner, CSPI’s litigation director.
“We did everything we could except for buy poisoned meat and hope for the best,” he said. “We did undercover calls, above board calls, we looked on their website and found nothing.”
Gardner added that he doesn’t believe Safeway's claim, and if the chain doesn't commit in writing to alert affected shoppers to a recall, he'll pursue the suit.
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