Edmund LaMacchia is our Global Vice President of Procurement.

We know our customers put a great deal of trust in us and because of this recent beef recall; we feel we have let you down. But first I’d like to tell you that no one is more disappointed than I am. Our own trust in our beef supplier was misplaced in this instance.  We have worked for the last 28 years to establish second-to-none quality and safety standards. With our excellent track record of providing the very best beef products over the years, we have never had a confirmed case of Coli 0157:H7 in our meat departments.

As soon as we learned of the possibility that a small amount of ground beef from our stores in two states could be related to nine people who became sick, we reacted quickly. While we searched for any direct link between the illnesses and meat from our stores – all tests of our beef have so far come back negative for E. coli – we determined it was important for the health of our customers to issue a voluntary recall of ground beef from multiple states that was purchased between June 2 and August 6, 2008.

So, how did this happen?  Read the rest of this entry »