This is fascinating and shocking. Congratulations on doing the research. Let's hope this gets the attention it deserves. I don't know this company but their products sound revolting. Boycott all of them, say I!

As someone who works in the grocery industry, for a company that prides itself on the research that goes into the products we sell, I can't get over the amount of information consumers do not know.

This information is out there, and it is a consumer's responsibility, in my eyes, to know not only what they are eating, but where it comes from.

As this startling post shows, ConAgra has some quality control issues. While I do believe that regulartory commissions have an obligation to look at this company, consumers also bear a lot of responsibility to know what they are putting in the mouths of their children and themselves.

Industrial food is NOT based on the concept of providing the highest quality food. It's time to take off the rose-colored glasses and repeat to yourself: industrial food has everything to do with making money (and ensuring massive quantities) and virtually NOTHING to do with your health (long or short-term). Neither the FDA nor the USDA has any real regulatory control of these companies. If you understand that, then you understand WHY there's no avocado in the guacamole dip, no cheese in the MAC & CHEESE, something called a "cheese product" (as approved by the FDA and defined as "food" by them), and endless safety issues regarding industrial food. The companies don't care simply because they have to. Their costs are lower by simply doing damage control when necessary. All that oversight to ensure consistent and proper handling would simply cut into the bottom line too much. The general public is generally unaware and the marketing departments ensure that the corporate veil of "we care" is in place. Until, of course, yet another person dies or gets sick from whatever food-related problem and they spend a teeny tiny amount of money on damage control until the situation is contained. Then ConAgra goes back to making money which is its mandate. If you don't want to be part of it, start paying attention to what goes in your mouth. If enough people do, ConAgrea will eventually follow. After all, they have a mandate.

Very nice job on yur research - I represented 39 of the 40 people sickened in the 2002 E. coli outbreak.

I actually find this article sensationalistic and one sided. It seems you are comparing apples to oranges. ConAgra is one of the top 5 (probably number 1) meat and poultry companies in the US. There are many manufacturing facilities in many states. Did the recalls occur repeatedly from the same manufacturing facility? Were the recalls an unusually high number when compared to the other top 10 food companies, let's say Kraft or Nestle for example? Was there a widespread outbreak from each of the food recalls?

And for the person that says the food industry is in the business of making money - I totally agree. And companies do not make money when food products have to be recalled. It is very VERY costly, so it is in their best industry to prevent such recalls.

I'm not sure how this is sensationalistic, when all it does is ask questions.

That being said, you're right that the numbers do need to be compared to another in order to provide context.

The only non-labeling American recall from kraft occured in 2000, where one day of cottage cheese production was called back.

There were two other major recalls from Kraft, due to mislabeling. I didn't mention the several recalls of mislabeling from Conagra, due to the fact that it's not a food production error, but rather an error in label manufacturing.

So against Kraft, Conagra shows a disproportionate amount of food recalls due to health/food production failures.

This shouldn't surprise any of us at all. We demand cheaper food so the result is massive food companies that value efficiency over quality (or even authenticity as noted by Former Seattle-ite above).

We're making tradeoffs and we're doing it willingly. We're willing to put our health at risk so that we have the convenience of pre-packaged foods that are quick and easy, "meatier" chickens, etc. We might all claim that we want these companies to do better, but let's face it, our complete inertia in the aggregate speaks volumes about our values. That is, it screams that we value convenience and price over safety and health (both long term and short term).

Sof,

Even as a generality, I think you're spot on. Yes, there's a healthy percentage of people who dig the whole organic/sustainability/locavore philosophies, but the majority of consumers don't seem to care one way or another.

Like I alluded to in the post, Peter Pan will take a sales hit, but Reddi-Wip? Not so much.

It is frightening. I had nightmares while reading Fast Food Nation, in which ConAgra was mentioned. I've been trying to cover these types of issues in both my personal blog, Expatriate's Kitchen, and as an author for Eat Local Challenge (http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com)

The above sites are a great resource with tons of good authors on eating local and opting out of the processed foods system.

I didn't think this pertained to me as I don't buy Peter Pan peanut butter, Reddi-Whip whipped cream, packaged meats but then I came to your section on Orville Redenbacher popcorn...Oh dear....Orville and I have had a long relationship. This breaks my heart. I didn't know it came from the same company. With that kind of a company record I will think long and hard before reaching for another package.

Only when we get real news, rather than the doings of Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, and their ilk will the public be in any kind of position to understand how deeply we are misled, duped, swindled, and downright poisoned. Thank you very much for this information.

I have been eating Peanut Butter and Jelly sadwiches for the past two weeks in my lunch pail, I have had headaches, diareha, Arthritic pain in my joints and a slight fever. I am a working person with commitments to clients so I have kept working. This week it finnaly hits the news that these jars of peanut butter may be contaminated, this information has been known to CoonAgra for months but is just noe made piblic. It never occored to me that I have been making myself sick by eating this product for two weeks, I thought that I had a slight case of the flu and would get better.
Thanks for your research it is time for them to get their house in order.
RD in Dallas

The problem is our current Government.
This is from 2005, but the cuts have been happening since the Republicans took Congress in 1994...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2005-02-14-fda-safety-usat_x.htm

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Posted 2/14/2005 10:58 PM Updated 2/15/2005 3:15 PM

Budget cuts FDA safety checks
By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY


The Food and Drug Administration's proposed budget for next year includes cuts to nearly all its inspection programs, from checks on imported food to reviews of overseas plants that make prescription drugs bound for the USA.

If Congress approves, the number of domestic food safety inspections made next year would fall by 5%, foreign drug plant inspections would drop 5.8% and checks on the nation's blood banks would be cut 4.7%, compared with estimated 2005 inspections.

The reductions are included in a $1.9 billion budget that gives the agency an overall 4.5% increase. Increases are earmarked for several projects, including expansion of a network of labs to analyze food for bioterror agents and increasing staffing in the office that monitors the safety of prescription drugs once they hit the market.

The proposed cuts come amid criticism the FDA failed to inspect often enough a long-troubled British vaccine plant that the United States had counted on for half of its flu vaccine supply. All the plant's vaccine was impounded last year after British regulators discovered serious problems, which were later confirmed by the FDA.

Some experts fear reducing inspections could make the USA more vulnerable to counterfeit drugs or improperly made products.

"We don't want to end up with a buyer-beware market for necessary medicines," says Sarah Sellers, an FDA adviser, pharmacist and drug-safety expert.

In a statement, the FDA said it is targeting inspections where risks are highest: "Intelligent, risk-basked inspections are more important than absolute numbers of inspections. (The agency) is committed to carrying out our mandate of promoting and protecting the public health."

Responding to ongoing criticism of the FDA's role in the vaccine problems this year, a top FDA official last week told Congress the agency will begin inspecting vaccine plants once a year, rather than the once every two years that is required.

Still, the number of drug plant manufacturing inspections would drop from 1,430 this year to 1,355 next year. The number of foreign drug inspections would fall from 515 to 485. The FDA also inspects companies that process human tissue for medical uses and companies that produce cheese, fish, juice and other foods.

Are you kidding me? ConAgra really does have quality control issues! Just last year, not a few months ago, I was drainingthe last little whipped cream out of a ReddiWhip can when two short, curly hair flowed out! I was DISGUSTED! I kept one hair strand and sent back the other to ConAgra. In turn they only sent me apologetic letters and free ReddiWhip coupons. I redeemed them and sent the cans to people I don't like that much :)

Here's a 2005 listing of ConAgra brands:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra_Foods,_Inc.

Excellent research here! I hope people send this information to friends and family so they can join in on avoiding ConAgra's products. With this many recalls, it must be a company-wide quality system failure, and I am not putting my family's health and safety at risk! We need to let the food industry know that safety and quality are more important than their profits!

Thank you so much for ptting this together and I am happy to say that I don't have any ConAgra producs but that dosn't mean I don;t have other bad ones in my house,it is a constet learning curve.

I think that you are a person that would appreciate this video too...www.storyofstuff.com

Thank you,
Shayne