In a press conference
this morning, B.F. Quality Foods CEO, Daryl Freeling,
detailed that all 'Yum-Yums' brands of baby food would be pulled from
the shelves:
"In addition,
we are ordering the recall of all non-milk based baby food products,
as well, until cross contamination testing
is completed. These brands include, 'Morning Surprise' jarred
preserves, 'Midday Munchies' fruit juices, and 'Miles o' Smiles' processed
vegetables.
"To any of
our loyal customers who have purchased these products,
please return them to your local retailer for a full refund.
Additionally, if any consumer does not feel completely confident in
the quality or safety of any of our products, whether they are our
canned meats, or processed cheese foods, please feel free to return
them as well.
"Let me assure
you, all B.F. Quality Foods products, even those in the recall,
are completely safe. Emergency testing by B.F. Quality Foods and the
Food and Drug Administration shows there is absolutely no trace of
'Necro-Mortosis' or any other dangerous substance in any of our
products. Additionally, B.F. Quality Foods is embarking on a new
system and procedure to prevent any similar event from ever
happening again.
"We hope these
small steps will help reestablish the 80 year tradition
of quality B.F. Quality Foods has worked so hard to establish with
our loyal
customers."
These words came
too late for Wall Street and the crowds of angry
protesters gathering outside corporate headquarters.
Maggie Cole, of Fort Wayne, pushing a baby in a stroller and holding
a
sign reading, "Yum-Yums. Your Baby's Last Meal," said, "I'm
not going
to fall for this. All these companies care about is money. They'd
feed rat poison to our babies if we'd let them."
Another unidentified
man yelled, "You think they mean it? They only
care because it's in the news. This company needs to be put out of
business."
Tumble:
On the NASDAQ, B.F. Quality Foods collapsed from over $28 a share
early this morning to just over $3 by the closing bell. Stock analyst
Gene Bell
said, "You couldn't sell B.F. Quality Foods fast enough today.
Every time you turned around it dropped another dollar. This stock
is so bad right
now people are willing to take a loss not to own it. If this keeps
up
tomorrow, they might be delisted by the end of the week."
Despite the panic
on Wall Street, and protesters at B.F. Quality Foods
headquarters, the rest of the nation seems to be taking the recall
in
stride.
Returns:
Aside from a few isolated incidents of store employees calling HAZMAT
teams to pull baby food from grocery store shelves, most retailers
contacted by ZWN say recall returns have been "moderate."
Larry Friel of
the Indiana Business Institute says, "B.F. Quality Foods is a
big company, and they've jumped on this problem pretty quickly. Now
it's all a matter of damage control and praying there are no zombie
outbreaks in the US for the next few weeks. If they wait a while,
change some of the names of their brands and their labeling; they
should be back to normal in less than a year.
"I would say
the biggest risk the company is facing right now is not
losing customers, but a hostile takeover from some corporate raider
taking advantage of the artificially low stock price."
