Today, yet another company had to recall products due to Salmonella-contaminated hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) manufactured by Basic Food Flavors, a Las Vegas, Nevada company.  Today’s recall was by Ruiz Foods, Inc., a Denison, Texas establishment, who had to recall 115,700 pounds of a ready-to-eat beef product that contained HVP as an ingredient.   

But Ruiz Foods is just another casualty in what is shaping up to be a long list of incredible recall-related losses for many, many companies.  How will the many companies who have had to recall products, including Ruiz Foods, take the news that their HVP supplier may have known about the salmonella contamination in their Las Vegas plant but decided to continue to manufacture and sell HVP for nearly a month afterward, until, apparently, one of their customers discovered the Salmonella contamination and issued a recall?  

See the FDA’s report written after inspections at Basic Food’s plant. 

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Photo of Drew Falkenstein Drew Falkenstein

Drew Falkenstein joined Marler Clark in January, 2004 and has concentrated his practice in representing victims of foodborne illness. He has litigated nationwide against some of the biggest food corporations in the world, including Dole, Kellogg’s, and McDonald’s.  He has worked on landmark…

Drew Falkenstein joined Marler Clark in January, 2004 and has concentrated his practice in representing victims of foodborne illness. He has litigated nationwide against some of the biggest food corporations in the world, including Dole, Kellogg’s, and McDonald’s.  He has worked on landmark cases that have helped shape food safety policy, HACCP protocol, and consumer rights, such as the E. coli outbreak in fresh spinach in 2006 and the 2008 Peanut Corporation of America outbreak of Salmonella. A frequent speaker for the not-for-profit organization Outbreak, Inc, Mr. Falkenstein travels the country to address public and environmental health organizations as well as food safety meetings and annual educational conferences.  He speaks on the intersection of law and public health, and addresses companies on how to prevent food borne illness outbreaks.