General Mills Pizza? Make mine Plain, hold the Pepperoni

Washington, DCSince the Totino's and Jeno's pizza E. coli outbreak began around mid-July of 2007, General Mills has distributed about 120 million potentially contaminated pizzas to retailers throughout the country. As of November 2nd, General Mills recalled about half a million cases of Jeno's and Totino's pizza because pepperoni on its pizzas is likely contaminated with E. coli.

General Mills has said the pepperoni came from a separate supplier and was not produced at the Ohio plant where the pizzas were made. But the company has still declined to release the name of the pepperoni distributor. Meanwhile, other food companies could be purchasing pepperoni from this same source. Suppose that General Mills isn't the only purchaser of this particular pepperoni. Do other food manufacturers and distributors know this pepperoni is contaminated with E. coli? What's the big secret? Why doesn't the government intervene and tell General Mills to come clean and fess up?

We all know that most food-poisoning cases go unreported. To date, at least eight people have been hospitalized, and four have developed a type of kidney failure known as hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS. No deaths have been reported.

On November 1st , 2007 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that at least 21 people had the same genetic fingerprint of E. coli O157:H7 as that found in General Mills Totino's or Jeno's frozen pizza. The CDC also said that the General Mills company (under the brand names of Totino's or Jeno's) was the likely source of the illness.

It Ain't Over...

Meanwhile, The Tennessee State Department of Health and the CDC are working with public health officials in multiple states and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) to investigate the ongoing multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections in humans

The gigantic food marketer, based in Golden Valley, MN, is a Fortune 500 corporation.

General Mills has asked consumers to throw away recalled pizzas. Or they can get replacements by clipping the bar code from the box and mailing it with their name and address to Totino's/Jeno's, P.O. Box 200 - Pizza, Minneapolis, MN 55440-0200.

If you have eaten a Totino's or Jeno's pizza contaminated with Ecoli, their offer may not be satisfactory. Alternatively, you might want to seek legal help.