Three weeks ago, Campus Auxiliary Services pulled from its counters a paste used to make its chipotle ranch dressing.
The pull was in response to a recall of the paste by its manufacturer, Minors, which suspected that its products may have been contaminated with salmonella. The recall was voluntary and pre-empted the consequences of any possible contamination.
After the recall, the company discovered that none of the products were contaminated with salmonella and that all of its products were perfectly safe.
Executive Chef Jonna Anne said that CAS "takes recalls extremely seriously" and that "as soon as [CAS] hears about a recall, it goes immediately into action."
"We're on 24-hour watch," she said.
Anne said that when CAS' supplier, U.S. Foods, is informed of a recall by any of its vendors, it immediately notifies CAS by e-mail, phone and fax. U.S. Foods informs CAS of how much of the product is on campus so that it may immediately discard its entire stock of the product.
Because the paste scare was voluntary and pre-emptive, it was not necessary for CAS to inform the student body at large about the recall, but the organization does take measures to do so during mass consumer recalls.
When spinach was recalled in the summer of 2008, CAS removed all spinach products and posted signs explaining the recall at each location where spinach had previously been available.
Peanut butter was recalled last year, and at that time CAS conducted an investigation to verify that its peanut butter products had not been purchased from the affected supplier. The only peanut butter that was eventually pulled on campus was that used in the vending machine snack crackers. CAS again posted signs at all locations where peanut butter was available explaining why it was still being offered despite the consumer recall.
CAS plans to begin making a new chipotle ranch dressing this weekend using dry spices instead of the recalled paste.