Showing posts with label beef recall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beef recall. Show all posts
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Killer Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
The FDA announced a recall today of products containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) manufactured by Basic Food Flavors, Inc. due to possible salmonella contamination. There have been no reports of injury or illness, but contamination at the plant has understandably caused concern.
If you are like me, you have some questions at this point. The most obvious is probably, "What on earth is hydrolyzed vegetable protein?" You may also wonder what it's in, and in particular what products contain HVP from this manufacturer. It is these questions that pose an interesting crisis communication issue for the FDA.
As it turns out, HVP is a food additive used in processed foods as a flavor enhancer. Therefore, the answer to the question of what foods contain it is basically everything, or at least most processed foods may contain it. As for which products contain HVP from this manufacturer, the answer may disturb you: nobody's sure. Once it is manufactured, it is sold to distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers who then either use it or resell it again. It's not that we can't find out what it's in, it's just that right now we don't know.
The FDA, then, was faced with a dilemma that is fairly common during the throes of a crisis. They have some information but not complete information. They have a difficult choice to make -- they can wait until they have complete information before issuing the recall, they can issue a recall based on the information they have and call it complete and only later acknowledge that it wasn't, or they can issue the recall with incomplete information, acknowledge that it's incomplete up front, and update it as they go.
You would be amazed how many organizations, when faced with this situation, pick one of the first two choices. They either sit on the information they have because they're not ready to release it, or they act as though they are certain of things they are not certain of. Later, when the whole story comes out, they are surprised when people are angry or distrusting.
A good example of this is when there is a violent incident at a school. Schools often don't talk to the press or to parents at all because they aren't sure, for example, how many casualties there are. Alternately, they state with authority that there are a certain number of victims, and later have to admit that they were wrong. Parents feel they mishandled the crisis, but in reality they may just have mishandled the information.
The FDA, in my humble opinion, has made the correct choice. If you visit the recall page, you will see the following statement:
This list includes products subject to recall in the United States since February 2010 related to hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) paste and powder distributed by Basic Food Flavors, Inc. This list will be updated with publicly available information as received. The information is current as of the date indicated. Once included, recalls will remain listed. If we learn that any information is not accurate, we will revise the list as soon as possible. When available, this database also includes photos of recalled products that have been voluntarily submitted by recalling firms to the FDA to assist the public in identifying those products that are subject to recall.In other words, "this is what we know so far. It's not everything, and we'll update the information as soon as we can."
Organizations are often worried that statements like this show weakness because they show what they don't know. I disagree. Sharing what you do know and acknowledging what you don't is actually a very effective tool for building trust in a crisis situation. People hearing or reading something like this feel reassured that the organization is sharing as much as it can and trying to be as accurate as possible, and that they will be told whatever is known whenever it is known. For an organization to engender that kind of trust, whether it's about a shooting or a food additive, is a tremendous strength.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Protecting Us from Hamburgers and News About Hamburgers
Two people have died and close to 30 are ill, apparently from eating beef products infected by e.coli bacteria. New York meat company Fairbanks Farms has recalled over half a million pounds of beef, largely on the east coast. A complete list of recalled products is available here.
Presuming that there is evidence linking these illnesses to the recalled beef, the recall makes a lot of logical sense. And there is no point in having a recall if people don't hear about it, so the publicizing of the recall also makes sense. But there is a tension here. Less than 30 people are sick and 2 have died, but now millions are worried. Everyone is looking in their freezers to see if they have the dreaded patties, and eyeing their fast food a little more suspiciously. After all, you can control what's in your freezer, but not what McDonalds or Burger King have in theirs.
In balance, the level of panic caused by the publicity is probably worth it, at least in adults. Most of us are able to keep things in perspective, realizing that this is a threat we can control. There are exceptions to every rule, however, and exhibit A in this is the commenter over at Huffington Post who wrote:
Obama should declare a Pandemic in the Meat Industry. Processed meat that people buy in supermarkets have [sic] killed people. This is a bigger threat than that swine flu.I can only hope this person has their tongue planted firmly in their cheek, because the death rate from H1N1, as we all know, is a lot higher than it is from Big Macs, even with the current outbreak.
We know that. The thing is, our kids don't. Our children, particularly those in the roughly 7-10 age range, are old enough to know that bad things happen in the world, old enough to understand the basics of a news story, and old enough to know that, as much as they rely on adults to keep them safe, that isn't always possible. Now they hear that ground beef is killing people, and we assure them that either we don't have any of it or we've thrown it out, but they can't help but wonder. If your child is a particular worrier, he or she may be able to come up with numerous scenarios under which they will still ingest contaminated beef. This is how vegetarians get their start.
So what's a parent to do? Most of us naturally become exasperated after a while and start brushing their concerns off with "don't worry about it." This is a sure-fire way to increase children's concerns. The minute we indicate we don't want to talk about it, kids believe we aren't talking because we have something to hide. The best thing we can do is be honest and upfront about what is going on and what we have done to keep them safe, and promise them that if there is a reason to worry or any more information to share, we'll talk about it some more.
And then, ultimately, we have to hope they believe us. In the end, that's what parenting so often comes down to.
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Meet the Quarterback
- Naomi Zikmund-Fisher
- is a clinical social worker, former school Principal and a Crisis Consultant for schools and community organizations. You can learn more about her at www.SchoolCrisisConsultant.com
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