Maple Leaf Foods

The Maple leaf foods listeria outbreak resulted 22 deaths and a widespread recall of luncheon meat, Sandwiches and deli platters, more than  220 packages of produce and a 20$ million dollar settlement for the company as well as consumer confidence in the produce was jolted. The Outbreak was caused by two meat slicing machine’s that were contaminated with Listeriosis and not cleaned properly.

In Aug 2012, a Toronto Maple Leaf Foods (“the Company”) plant was confirmed as being involved in the outbreak of the food-borne illness, caused by the bacterium Listeria. A day later, Maple Leaf upgraded a precautionary recall of 23 of its products in previous week to all 220 packaged meats from the plant at the Bartor’s Road, which has been shut down. The company has estimated the recall will directly cost it at least $20 million, with further costs expected due to lost sales and reputation damage. Since the outbreak of Listeria bacterium, 22 people died and there were 57 total confirmed cases of illness caused by Listeria 1. Although the Listeria outbreak was described by the Company’s CEO as “the

By disposing of out dated products, Company Q, is missing a great opportunity to create a public relations and social opportunity. Because management was concerned with lost revenue through possible fraud and theft they decided to throw away the out dated food, instead of donating to the food bank. Company Q should have been more contributive towards the needs of the community than to the how much revenue would be lost or how they couldn’t trust the employees.

Maple Leaf Foods (MLF), a result of many mergers and amalgamations, has been in Canada for over 100 years. Its operations focus on three core areas: meat products, agribusiness and bakery products. The meat product group is the largest, with sales to about $2.5 billion in 2000. Each business is made up of independent operating companies (IOCs), with each IOC run by a president and encouraged to follow a common set of values. Efforts are underway to optimize vertical coordination of the IOCs. A major concern for the meat product division is the loss of market share in the hot dog industry where average price per kilo is increasing

Kenner reported that companies found it more beneficial to keep diseased food on the shelves and pay out the law suits (25:15). It is crazy to me that companies would not want to spend the money to conserve the reputation and respect of their company, but would rather pay off the individuals who actually report a recall. The scariest thing is that, as consumers, we are not given any information and are not able to avoid chemically treated or processed foods (18:10). The antibiotic-treated chicken is sold without warning and E. coli exists within meats. As humans, we eat food for nourishment. What happens when the food we are eating acts as a poison to our

The tragic deaths of seven people who died due to potassium cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules started as a disaster for Tylenol producer Johnson and Johnson. However, J&J communicated with their publics and the media proficiently, investigated their

Chipotle’s apologetic response strategy is reminiscent of the 2008 McCain Maple Leaf Foods listerios epidemic known as one of the worst contamination cases in Canadian history. Similarly, Maple Leaf Foods opted for a high visibility strategy immediately responding by posting an apology video on their YouTube channel after news broke of the first death connected to the outbreak. Here the company’s CEO not only took full responsibility and offered his sincere sympathy for those customers whose lives were effected, but ensured the public that necessary actions were going to be taken regardless of financial costs. McCain’s continued visibility was seen as the CEO Michael H. McCain appearing in television advertisements, holding press conferences, and on the corporate website continuing to apology for the dire

With yet another set of recalled food products in the past month, this time for flour and frozen vegetables, we thought we should revisit how the MN certified food manager can keep the food safe in an industry where there are times where the safety of the food supply is uncertain.

On the first place, it is the responsibility of the CDC to stop and prevent further spread of food born disease. Stronger rules and regulations should be imposed by U.S. regulatory agencies for all food items sold and most importantly for frozen item, which are more prone for spreading food born diseases. Vendors should strictly follow general food safety measures and fines or punishment must be imposed according to the area/people affected.

The biggest question for preventing foodborne illness comes from companies following safe sanitation practices, and promptly reporting all incidents of foodborne illnesses when an outbreak occurs. Many former outbreaks of foodborne illness end in companies leaving out vital information of the events that occurred in their facilities the day of the outbreak. In order to stay up to date on current outbreaks, each state routinely monitors diseases that are to be under surveillance by the public health department

When the Washington Post releases the finding from “Friends of the Earth” that Kraft Foods product labeled Taco Bell Originals taco shells contain “Cry9c” known as StarLink, Taco Bell Corporation will face a public perception that Taco Bell restaurants are serving or selling tinted food products. Less than one year ago (November 1999) Taco Bell Corporation lost some public confidence due to the E-coli outbreak from tainted ground meat. Our response during the November 1999 outbreak should be duplicated to assist with the public perception related to tainted products. While the restaurant products are separate from the home products, they will be linked by our Taco Bell branding. Our use of media outlets, phone banks, and websites should be used. Our legal team will need to begin its preliminary research into the subject for reports and recommendations before the press release. Senior executives from Kraft Foods are being contacted to begin planning a united response to the upcoming press

Maple Leaf Foods initially announced restructuring of its meat products as well as the agribusiness operations in 2006 in order to reduce its exposure to foreign currency fluctuations as well as to increase its profitability in the meat industry. This policy adopted by Maple Leaf Foods led to the sale of Rothsay, a biodiesel business, followed by the sale of Olivieri Foods, a fresh sauce and pasta business, and ultimately concluding its restructuring with the sale of its bakery division, Canada bread in order to pay off its debt and complete the long due restructuring of its meat business. Sale of these subsidiaries in 2013 and 2014 led to excessive focus on its protein business. As a result, the present as well as the future earnings of Maple

Sealed bottles were tampered with and extra-strength Tylenol capsules were replaced with cyanide-laced capsules. These bottles were then resealed and placed on shelves of pharmacies in the Chicago area. Seven people died as a result. Tylenol was called upon to explain why its product was killing people.

Nutritional Foods Inc., a company that manufactures healthful products, has a major problem to address. Some of the company's products are allegedly responsible for a number of acute food poisoning cases. The problem has escalated from just a few cases of food poisoning to dozens of other reported cases. The company's chief executive, Fred James, has convened an emergency meeting comprising of members of the Crisis Action Committee. The key agenda of the meeting is how the situation that is threatening to get out of hand should be handled.

Fast food company’s pride themselves on making orders and food in a timely fashion as well as providing high quality food and an atmosphere for all, but what happens when a huge crisis happens and it ends in lawsuits. In this article, I will discuss Taco Bell’s 2006 E. coli crisis and how it came to be a crisis for the company. Next I will discuss some of the actions Taco Bell took to manage the crisis once it escalated and how the company approached to handle the crisis. In other words, did they do it great or poorly. Lastly, I will discuss how certain theories relate to this E. coli disaster that affected dozens of people and hurt business.