Well, Some Info is Better than No Info

The Agriculture Department's announced on Friday that it is going to start telling consumers in 30 days about which retail stores have received recalled poultry or meat. Previously, the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service would announce that there was a recall, provide a description of the recalled product, along with any identifying brand names or product codes, but not where the tainted food products were being sold.

Now, within three to 10 days of a recall notice, the Food Safety Inspection Service will provide the retail store information. According to the Agriculture Department, "the list of retail stores and locations compiled by FSIS personnel during this process will be posted on the FSIS Web site www.fsis.usda.gov and shared with state and local public health officials where the retail stores are located."

As I noted previously, the Agriculture Department and food industry have long resisted the move, but seemed to have changed its mind in the wake of potential congressional action after the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company’s recall of 143 million pounds of beef in February, the largest recall in history. That recall was sparked by video showing apparently sick cows being slaughtered and entering the food chain, something that isn't supposed to happen.

However, the new information only affects USDA Class I recalls, i.e., "a health hazard situation in which there is a reasonable probability that eating the food will cause health problems or death." The Westland/Hallmark recall was not a Class I event (it was Class II, a recall that "involves a potential health hazard situation in which there is a remote probability of adverse health consequences from eating the food"), and therefore wouldn’t have made the cut.

Oh well. At least score one for a little better risk management information being provided to the American consumer.