It's the right thing to do, but it's somewhat penalizing in the short term. When the Bil Mar plant resumed production of deli meats on March 3, it did so under a new company program of food safety. Bil Mar now reheats all deli meat after it is packaged to kill any lingering bacteria. While the origin of the outbreak was never pinpointed, officials suspect that meats were contaminated after cooking and before packaging. Bil Mar also has an extensive system of testing equipment and products for bacteria.
Employees get increased food-safety training.
While Sara Lee prides itself on being a decentralized company, the Bil Mar recall forced company executives to reconsider that approach in the area of food safety. McNamara has been given authority to monitor all of Sara Lee's meat operations and shut down any plant she deems unsafe, says McMillan. And Sara Lee officials are going so far as to study the kinds of clean-room technologies used by drug companies to see how they might be applied in meat plants.