Dealing With Recalls

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI) – Recalls. We’ve all heard of them for; cars, beauty products, or the latest gadget.

It’s unnerving when it’s our favorite foods.

Products that we buy on our weekly trip to the grocery store could actually have the ability to make us sick.

Food product recalls happen all the time.

“We’ve had three major recalls in the last six months. We had the blue bell ice cream, then we had our own Piggly Wiggly brand biscuit and now the Mary B’s biscuits,” said Eupora Piggly Wiggly manager Roy Hall.

Hall says that’s why it’s important for him and his staff to stay vigilant.

“Oh it’s like any other product that we handle here in the store. We watch our dates and we don’t want our customers to get anything that’s out of date that might make them sick. So that’s our main concern keeping the customers from getting sick,” said Hall.

The USDA reports thousands of food recalls a year and MSU Food Safety Extension Service specialist Courtney Crist says it’s for good reason.

“Food companies issue a food recall if there’s been some type of food hazard, risk to consumers. This could be physical, chemical, biological contaminants or hazard. With bacteriological it’s usually something with a microorganism of concern; salmonella, e. coli any of the “S” tags related to e. coli and listeria monocytogenes as we found out recently with the meatball recall,” said Crist.

Mable Yates has been the assistant manager of the Eupora Piggly Wiggly for more than a decade. She says once they receive word from their corporate office they spring into action.

“We handle it pretty smoothly but as soon as it comes in I tell the employees this ain’t what we need and we send it back or take it back to the back to our big freezer till later and then we’ll go back and check it. If I see it’s what’s being recalled I say nope I say this is going back we have to destroy this,” said Yates.

Hall says when the store is notified about a recall, they give customers time to check their fridge for the potentially unwholesome product.

“Some of the companies will tell you to destroy it or pull them back for a pick up. We also wait a few days for if any of the customers got this product at home they can bring it back for a full refund no questions asked,” said Hall.

Some stores will notify customers of recalls on their receipts.