Grocery giant Kroger had enough of a crisis to deal with when it pulled frozen berries possibly contaminated with Hepatitis A last year. But the sting of the Food and Drug Administration recall was compounded even further. During the recall, it was discovered berries from the same supplier were infected with the same contagious liver disease in 2013, when more than 150 people were sickened after buying their product from Costco stores. Both Costco and Townsend Farms faced further scrutiny while fighting lawsuits that resulted from sick customers even five years later.
How does such a similar threat emerge nearly six years later, from the same supplier? Especially in a time where one in six Americans are sickened from contaminated food each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And while the vast majority of recalls are not linked to any illnesses, customers can grow weary of a grocer who is frequently pulling food from the shelves. It also puts a dent in grocer’s revenues. A 2011 survey found more than half of grocers said they were impacted by a recall in the past 5 years, and 18 percent of those said the lost sales amounted to between $30 and $99 million.