AmalfiCORE Blog

Almost ate the e.Coli – Company Brand Risk

I don’t watch TV or the regular news channels. Occasionally, I will catch up with Meet the Press on Sundays, a USA Today on the plane, or a quick internet browse of current events.

Last week I took a package of frozen organic buffalo from the freezer to thaw for evening dinner. Got on the internet and found this: “Colorado firm recalls bison meat over E.coli scare“.[1] So, I check the brand, date, product code, and lot number and it’s an exact match. Whoah! The likelihood of catching that article the day I was eating the bison is quite remote.

So, today I take out the package of elk for tonight’s dinner and, of course check the label and Google the company.  It seems ElkUSA (aka Grande Natural Meats) is having problems because the name of the company with the actual product recall (Rocky Mountain Natural Meats) and the product name (Great Range Brand Ground Bison) are very similar to the elk meat producer. Here’s what I found on their website:

“NOTICE: We are NOT affected by the recent USDA recall of Bison (Buffalo) ground meat and steaks from other companies.  (July 2, 2010)“[2]

This is just one small example of how a brand problem at one company affects another. When we consider the number of product recalls globally, risk to brand and image is real. Certainly it’s possible that problems with the food supply severely impact more than just one company, one geography or one product.

Just ‘food’ for thought, pun intended.

[1] Reuters on MSNBC, July 3, 2010. “Colorado firm recalls bison meat over E.coli scare“. Retrieved 7-13-10: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38076817/ns/us_news

[2] Elk USA, July 2, 2010. “Grande Premium Meats”, Retrieved http://www.elkusa.com/