There seems to be an upswing on the food recalls in the last year. (See: 5.1 million pounds of beef linked to Indiana illnesses recalled due to Salmonella, or FDA warns people to avoid eating romaine lettuce due to E. coli outbreak) With safety as our number one priority at Second Helpings, we have a protocol in place when we get the alert of a recent recall.
The first thing that we do is inspect the food that we currently have in our refrigerators, freezers, and dry storage. We are very mindful of the time that we hold onto food, so the inspection does not take as long as one might think. If we do find any food linked to a recall, we dispose of it immediately.
While our Hunger Relief Team is busy assuring that we have checked all the food that we have in house, Patty and Carrie, our agency relations team, get to work. They contact any of our partner agencies that may have received any of the recalled food from us. Agencies receive food from Second Helpings in a few different ways: we prepare food that goes to agencies that they heat and serve, as well as redirecting food in bulk to a variety of agencies that distribute the food through food pantries.
It is always our mission to transform lives through the power of food, always safe food.