Customer loyalty cards proving to be a useful food safety tool
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Customer loyalty cards swiped at grocery store check-out lanes helped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) track the source of a Salmonella infection outbreak to the course pepper used by a salami manufacturer in Rhode Island.
Earlier this month, the CDC used information from shopper bonus cards to pinpoint the source of items that sickened nearly 250 people in 44 states. People who were ill gave public health officials permission to retrieve purchase information based on their loyalty card numbers.
A few store chains, including Costco, Wegman’s and Price Chopper, already use information generated by their bonus cards to inform consumers who have purchased products that later ended up on recall lists. A consumer protection group says more retailers should use their loyalty card program not just to build their databases but to help protect the public from being sickened by contaminated foods.
“If a retailer knows the address, phone number, or email address of someone who has purchased contaminated peanut butter, spinach, or salami, the company should take advantage of that opportunity to prevent future illnesses from recalled products,” according to Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Food Safety Attorney Sarah Klein.
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All the comments bemoaned the fact that using the "loyality cards" was an invasion of privacy and too intrusive to their way of thinking.
Makes one wonder if they ever heard of the Patriot Act, or bothered to fully read the story.
The cards were used with the permission of the holder, and logic dictates that without that permission there would be no way of tracking what the sick people purchased that could have caused their food-bourne illnesses.
Another Good Grief! moment on the intelligence, or lack there of, by the American public.
As far as loyalty card go, they're a gimmick. The only reason I have four (two markets and two pet stores) is to get the discounts.
As far as tracking what we buy, if they were doing such a good job of that, why? oh why? do we always get coupons with our change at the cash register for types of products we buy and not for the product brand we always buy?
What on Earth makes them think I would switch brands from the tried-and-true ones I always buy and trust to ones they're promoting?
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