The headline screams: "9 million pounds of beef
recalled!" If that isn't enough to get people clicking, and sharing, that
picture of what looks like your local meat market certainly is. What's worse,
this latest meat scare actually happened in the United States.
A California beef distributor has recalled 9 million pounds of beef. That's about a one-year supply for the distributor's customers. Some are calling this one more strike against the meat industry. One thing is for certain, meat distributors, and manufacturers from coast to coast, woke up the next morning already thinking about damage control. Some thoughts on how to recover (along with hiring a crisis pr firm)
#1 -- Distance themselves: One of the first things that happens in a case like this, is unproven association. Because the general public will look at this at an industry problem, and not a single business problem, those companies not associated need to make sure they get the word out that they are, in fact, as different as apples and oranges.
#2 -- Prove their protections: One of the best ways to prove they are different, is for those companies to offer examples of the protections they have in place to keep this sort of thing from happening. They need to put these out there loudly, and often. Not to protest too much, but to let the consumers know what they are doing to protect them.
#3 -- Reassure the public: The public needs to understand that the system worked. The recall is the result of a voluntary action undertaken by a company that is looking out for, yes, its best interests, but also those of its consumer base. There was the potential for some of the product not to pass muster, so the company pulled ALL of it. Their own internal checks caught the potential issue before it became an actual issue. People need to understand that.
