Sunday, August 07, 2011

Maybe I will get one...  

I have been critical of "frequent shopper" cards at grocery stores as simple data-mining tools for Big Food.  Jan uses hers religiously and proudly points to "savings" I still struggle to believe.

But the experience of one shopper during the recent turkey recall is forcing a re-think.
I just got a phone call from Kroger, one of my local grocery stores indicating that I may have purchased some of this turkey and should return it with receipt to the store for a full refund. (If only I hadn't eaten it all already).
I have to assume the "Kroger Plus card" I use to save a few bucks on toothpaste and other instore specials kept track of who bought what products, and they were able to alert me that I had purchased some potentially contaminated turkey.
I'm pretty happy that I cooked what I ate thoroughly, as I always do, and have so far avoided illness, but it is pretty neat that my little savings card can be used to help customers avoid illness. Finally I see the value in having one and having it attached to my contact information. [Comment on this post about recall]
[There is a side bonus of not being asked EVERY (rare) time I shop for groceries if I want to get the dang card.]

Another point that may have been undersold on this event is this strain is resistant to multiple antibiotics.

PS: Use a meat thermometer, people!

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