Dive Brief:
- Taylor Farms has recalled more than three tons of chicken salad and pork products because they use Sargento cheese, which was recalled due to possible listeria contamination, according to Food Safety News.
- The recalled products by Taylor Farms were packaged under the Signature Cafe and the H-E-B brands and contain use-by dates through Feb. 19.
- A random testing by Tennessee food inspectors triggered the recall of several Sargento, Meijer and Amish Classics cheese products.
Dive Insight:
Recalling the cheese alone is inconvenient and difficult, but like recent recalls of powdered milk, flour, sugar and cookie dough, because it is an ingredient in many other products, it snowballs. So far, this recall has impacted several brands of cheese and RTE salads. It may eventually spread even further.
When a product is recalled, it can mean bad things ahead for the product and manufacturer. Some retailers will remove the entire assortment of SKUs to be safe, and consumers tend to be leery about going back to a product that has had a troubled past.
General Mills faced a similar recall last year investigating an ongoing, multistate outbreak of E. coli O121 that may have been potentially linked to Gold Medal flour. Products using the flour, like baking mixes, were recalled worldwide. However, response to the outbreak didn't seem to register on General Mills' most recent earnings report, which focused on yogurt as the reason for the company's financial troubles.
On the other extreme, cookie dough manufacturer Aspen Hills was found to have listeria contamination in its cookie dough products, which were used in ice cream and other confections. Soon after a notice last month where the Food and Drug Administration blasted Aspen Hills for 'not taking aggressive action' to address the contamination, the cookie dough manufacturer shut down.
Though the companies caught in the middle of an ingredient recall aren’t impacted as strongly as those with the contaminated products, they will still most likely face some backlash from consumers.
However, in any recall or food safety issue, getting in front and being transparent with everything is the best way to regain consumer trust.