Week 7 Discussion and Responses Leadership and Ethics
Week 7 Discussion – Product Recalls
Research a recent example of a product recall. Do you believe the company took the right action? What, if anything, should the company have done differently? Provide specific examples and details to support your case example.
Use any other reference as needed for citation purposes to support. Must be in APA format.
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Reference:
Text: Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy
Author: Lawrence, A. & Weber, J.
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Ed/Year: 14th/2014
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-802947-9
Chapters 14-15
Discussion 1 Response
By I,H
In the fall of 2016, Kraft Heinz recalled about 959 pounds of ready to eat Lunchables Ham and American Cheese Cracker Stackers (Lichtman, 2016). The recall was placed due to mislabeling of the packages as the labels for the nacho variety was placed in error on the ham and cheese basics package (Brophy Marcus, 2016). The cracker stackers contain wheat and soy and these allergens were not listed on the packaging.
The defective packages were subject to recall had an establishment number of EST. 537K” inside the USDA mark of inspection and it was identified that those packages were sent to retailers in Utah and California (Lichtman, 2016). The discovery was made by a consumer who filed a complaint with Heinz Craft on October 6, 2016 but reported no illness due to the mislabeling. The USDA urged consumers to throw away the product or return it to the place of purchase, though no reports of adverse reactions due to the mislabeling were reported (Litchtman, 2016). Kraft Heinz made a statement apologizing for the situation saying they were working hard to communicate with consumers and investigate improvements to avoid this happening again (Brophy Marcus, 2016).
Allergens have become a common concern for parents in this day in age and while the product was not recalled for E. coli or Salmonella, allergic reactions can put the life of an individual in danger. The thought of a child having a severe reaction is frightening for a parent and while it is quite possible that the consumer who reported the erroneous label wouldn’t be impacted by the problem, they did the right thing to help avoid a bigger problem. Kraft Heinz then did the right thing in investigating the issue and identifying the batches of products that should be thrown away.
Having two children myself, I can say that I knew about this recall but not necessarily what caused it. The fact that the FDA classified the recall as a Class I recall, which means it is a health hazard situation where there is reason to believe that consumption of the product can cause serious health issues or even death (Litchman,2016). My son begged me for a Lunchable for months, and not until the last day of school was I ready to buy one again. Doing more research for this assignment, I am realizing that my children wouldn’t even be impacted by the error, and we are not in Utah or California so we wouldn’t even be exposed. Not to mention that we don’t buy the Cracker Stackers variety. While it seems that the firm did its part in correcting their error, a recall influences an organization’s reputation.
Isamar
Lichtman, S. R. (2016, October 09). FSIS. Retrieved June 12, 2017, from https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2016/recall-093-2016-release
Marcus, M. B. (2016, October 10). Some Lunchables are recalled by Kraft Heinz for allergy risk. Retrieved June 12, 2017, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lunchables-recall-kraft-heinz-allergy-risk-mislabeled/
Discussion Response 2
By A,W
Naturally Wholesome Products LLC is a privately owned company based in Hamptonville, North Carolina. The company is in the milk delivering business for both residential and commercial consumers. They also shelf their milk products in many of the local stores in North Carolina such as bakeries, coffee shops, and popular grocery stores such as Whole Foods (About Us, 2017) They’ve been in business for about 4 years with approximately $112,000 in annual sales so they are a very small company (Company Overview, 2017).
On May 24, 2017, the company voluntary recalled their Half and Half gallons and pints under their company’s brand name Wholesome Country Creamery due to their findings of Alkaline Phosphates found in their products. Alkaline Phosphates are enzymes found in raw milk. These enzymes can lead to creations of Salmonella and E. coli. If this enzymes are ingested, this can lead to gastrointestinal infections. The enzymes remain in raw milk until the milk is pasteurized. If properly pasteurized, the enzymes are removed. Unfortunately, 2 batches of their Half and Half milk were not properly pasteurized per the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (Recalls, 2017). The company does routine testing and that’s when they found the enzymes in their Half and Half products. Fortunately, the company has not received any reports of illness from their Half and Half products (Naturally Wholesome Products LLC, 2017).
I believe the company took immediate action to recall their product to prevent harm to their customers. Since the company conducts routine testing, the enzymes were found in a timely manner and they voluntarily initiated the recall. That speaks volumes since the company caught the problem before it caused illness to customers and that would’ve been bad publicity for the small company. Again, the company does routine testing to make sure issues like this one doesn’t arise so the only thing they can do different is to conduct more tests before the milk is poured into containers and delivered to their customers. The company has several different dairy products and the enzyme issue was narrowed down to specifically their Half and Half products which are shelfed in grocery stores so that helped the company recall those product quicker. Overall, the company handled the problem in a very timely manner.
References:
About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2017, from http://www.farmtohomemilk.com/p-22-how-it-works.html
Recalls, Market Withdrawals,& Safety Alerts (2017, May 24). – Naturally Wholesome Products LLC Wholesome Country Creamery LLC Voluntary recall of Half & Half in plastic gallon and pint bottles, due to the presence of Alkaline Phosphatase in samples. Retrieved June 11, 2017, from https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm561852.htm
Company Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2017, from http://listings.findthecompany.com/l/33705717/Naturally-Wholesome-Products-Llc-in-Hamptonville-NC#FAQ&s=2OMvld
Naturally Wholesome Products LLC Wholesome Country Creamery LLC Voluntary recall of Half & Half in. (2017, June 05). Retrieved June 11, 2017, from http://www.wsbtv.com/news/recalls/naturally-wholesome-products-llc-wholesome-country-creamery-llc-voluntary-recall-of-half-half-in/530010509
Discussion Response 3
BY A.R
As a result of two reported incidents outside of the US of failure to activate due to a potential defective part, the EpiPen and EpiPen Jr. were recalled nationally on March 13, 2017 (FDA alerts consumers, 2017). The companies associated with this recall are Meridian Medical and Mylan which are manufacturing partners.
Meridians attention to quality management is highly important in the production of the EpiPen. Potential lawsuits that could result because of flaws would be extremely damaging. The benefit of consistent high-quality production with zero defects is a must. The result of defective products in this case can have negative health consequences which result in death.
In the voluntary recall consumers, patients and distributors were contacted. Identification of the lots associated with potential defective product were disclosed for consumer identification. The dates of distribution of product were provided, December 17, 2015 to July 1, 2016. Contact phone numbers and websites (Mylan.com/EpiPenRecall) were also provided. Additionally, mainstream news sources covered the recall. Taking extra precaution, the manufacturer, Meridian, recalled additional lots besides the lot with the defective product. Mylan stated, “Mylan is committed to replacing recalled devices at no cost and Mylan would like to reassure patients that there will be no additional replacement-related financial burden to them as a result of this recall.” (Mylan Provides Update, 2017, para. 5).
Recalls are difficult and it’s almost impossible to reach everyone that may be affected. However, in this case I believe Meridian Medical and the associated companies along with the FDA did everything possible to proactively inform, guide and replace the consumer’s potentially defective product.
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