Reacting to a beef recall

Quick thinking and response can keep a bad situation from getting worse.

It's every supermarket's worst nightmare--meat contamination that requires an immediate recall. It's bad enough when the tainted product comes from an outside supplier. But when a store's own meat department or in-house processing facility causes the contamination, the damage can be especially extreme.

Whether it's a case of Listeria-infected hamburger patties or inaccurately labeled hot dogs, a meat recall is a major problem that independent grocers and chain supermarkets alike must plan for. A thorough, speedy and efficient reaction to a recall--especially one that involves beef, typically a meat department's most popular product--can mean the difference between lost lives or lawsuits and merely minor retail inconveniences that a store can quickly bounce back from.

So, how does a supermarket guard against a Grade A disaster? By having an effective recall strategy and damage control plan in place, training your staff properly and continuing to enforce the strictest of meat department cleaning and maintenance standards, say the experts.

"Sanitation and cleanup of meat and other food preparation departments has definitely remained a high priority in the supermarket industry," says Bob Bova, president of BB & Associates, a supermarket consulting firm based in Fayetteville, Ark. Bova cites the effectiveness of HACCP--Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points--an industry guideline used to control the safe handling of food that went into effect in the early 1990s. "And I wouldn't be surprised if new standards are developed as the media continues to hype the food safety issue," he adds.

Jerry Lekan, co-owner of Paulina Market, a meats and sausage wholesale retailer in Chicago, says there are three general classes of meat recalls that all stores should prepare for: a hazardous recall of product that poses a possibly deadly health danger to consumers (e.g., E. coli or salmonella-contaminated meat); a moderately severe recall of product that can cause a survivable sickness (e.g., slightly out of date meat); and a mild recall of product that does not necessarily pose a health threat (e.g., meat was improperly packaged, labeled, seasoned, prepared, etc.).

According to Charles Gioglio, director of the recall management division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety & Inspection Service, a supermarket needs to take the following steps immediately upon being notified of a product recall by a processor/supplier or if on-site contamination is suspected:

1. Immediately check your inventory and pull the questionable product off store shelves.

2. Contact your local or state agricultural or health departments.

3. If you produce/supply the product to any other stores or clients, contact them.

4. Follow any recall instructions provided to the store by the supplier or government agency (such as the USDA). This may include sending all adulterated or misbranded product back to the supplier or destroying the product on-site.

5. Notify customers appropriately about the recall with in-store signage and notices in circulars and advertisements.

Lekan says a vital step in reacting to a meat recall is to gain control of the product and call the supplier immediately. "Get the lot numbers on the meat in question and then check your supply to see if any match," he says. "If any do, pull the product right away and ask the supplier what they want to do with the meat. Usually, they make arrangements to have you send it back to them so that the meat can be further inspected and disposed of."

Once the meat has been pulled, customers need to be alerted right away, adds Lekan, who recommends using informative signage in the meat department that indicates which product has been recalled. "Glue a sample package of the product to a poster and clearly indicate the code numbers of the product that has been recalled," he advises. "And if it's a case of an in-house product recall, I would have an actual staffer available on the sales floor who has been trained to answer any questions shoppers may have about the meat."

Gioglio says that, contrary to popular belief, a meat recall is not required by law. All food recalls are voluntary, but to date, no company or store has ever refused a request from FSIS to recall an unsafe food. But if a store refuses to recall a questionable product, FSIS has the legal authority to detain and/or seize meat products believed to be hazardous.

Immediately contacting the USDA-FSIS and other local agricultural or health departments about a food hazard is important so the government can notify the media (via faxes and press releases) to alert the public and dispatch safety inspectors and compliance officers to quickly investigate the problem.

As long as no consumers die or are made seriously ill, losses can probably be recouped quickly. During a meat recall, retailers are usually compensated for lost product by the wholesaler, who is then, in turn, paid back by the producer/supplier. Repairing a damaged reputation, however, is not so easy.

"If nobody gets hurt and you react quickly and appropriately, you can probably get through it alright," says Lekan. "Otherwise, you may be finished, especially if yours is a small, independent retail operation."

"Surviving a major meat recall will greatly depend on what kind of reputation your store had before the problem occurred," says Bill Pizzico, president of The Prizm Group, a marketing consulting firm in Fort Washington, Pa. "Your credibility and reputation will rest on what crisis controls you had in place, and how you handled the recall. The problem is that not enough retailers have a recall plan in effect. The current thought process is 'It's not really my problem,' or 'It will be someone else's responsibility to handle it.'"

Pizzico's answer?

"Supermarkets need to have a stronger internal structure and working strategy in place to react to a meat recall. Also, our industryneeds a better community watchdog for itself and competitive stores need to share more ideas and suggestions with each other more. When a meat recall hits, all the surrounding stores can be affected and it becomes everybody's problem."

Which is why it is essential to also enact a strategy to react to a neighboring store's meat recall. "Your customer base needs to feel very secure in the wake of someone else's recall," says Pizzico, who recommends using signage, flyers, circulars and a sales floor staffer (who is trained to answer any possible questions about product safety and integrity) to reassure shoppers.

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