I get that. I’ve used this analogy before, but if you were buying a
car, you’d want to know if that model had a history of the wheels falling off at 50mph — and you’d be wary of buying it if it did, even if everyone said it was the greatest car on the planet.
But not all recalls are equal. You need to use them wisely and ask yourself these questions:
1. Does no recall history mean no problems?
If
a country never tested for a virus or a disease — say influenza — it would have no recorded cases of influenza. Does it mean no one in that country ever had influenza?
Some food manufacturers test their food more rigorously and more frequently than others for disease-causing bacteria, deadly aflatoxin and other contaminants.
Logically, these companies are more likely to recall a product simply because they test more, especially those producing multiple varieties and large quantities.
A company that never tests will almost never have a recall. Should we punish manufacturers for being responsible?
2. Why was the product recalled?
A product can be recalled for any number of reasons. It might have a contaminant in it or too high a level of a vitamin, or it might simply have been mislabeled — meaning, for example, your dog gets salmon in chicken packaging.
Some reasons are more serious than others. We will always try to make the severity and potential consequences clear in our recall alerts, so please do take notice and read them carefully.
3. How much of the product has been recalled?
Recalls are almost always for a specific batch or set of batches of the product. If this is the case and it only happens once, it signals carelessness but also perhaps a one-off incident from which the manufacturer can learn — thus, hopefully, making the product
safer in the future.
