NEW ORLEANS — A trip to the grocery store can be a bit pricy. Items are usually chosen based on cost, not whether they’ll make you sick.
“You’re going to the grocery store and you’re assuming that whatever is on their shelf is safe,” said chief strategy officer at Second Harvest Food Bank John Sillars.
The latest recalls from the USDA are part of a long list of items pulled from those shelves. Whether linked to bacteria or foreign objects, consumers are cautioned not to eat what they may have already bought.
“If a consumer has bought the product, they can return it to the grocery store, but I think most of the time what they do is, they just throw it away,” said Sillars.
Sillars says that can lead to unexpected expenses.
“It’s not as much, ‘Well, I bought that item for a dollar and now I have to go spend two dollars on another item.’ It’s really more about, ‘I’ve got to go spend another dollar that I wasn’t planning on spending,’” said Sillars. “That’s the challenge of recalls among those who are kind of living at the margins,”
When more affordable foods, like those part of the Great Value brand, end up on the recall list, those margins can get closer. Recently, waffles, deli meats, eggs, and even McDonald’s Quarter Pounders have been recalled because of links to bacteria.
"We have more and more complicated food supply chain, so, at every step of food processing, there's the opportunity for contamination,” said editor-at-large for Public Health at KFF Health News, Dr. Celine Gounder.
Gounder said on CBS Mornings that high demand for ready-to-eat foods and better testing are big reasons why recall lists can get so long.
For folks trying to buy basic needs, Sillars says it’s about doing a little research beforehand and not being afraid to ask for help.
“They need food to feed themselves, to feed their families, and that’s critically important and we’re more than happy to step up and help them out,” said Sillars.
Here’s a list from the USDA of recalled grocery items:
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
[WATCH] Salmon products sold at Costco recalled
