This dropped into my inbox this morning:

Andrew and Williamson Announces Support for New STOP Foodborne Illness Campaign to Improve Diagnoses

On behalf of every employee at our company, we want consumers to understand that we are absolutely devastated by the three deaths and illnesses that have been reported in the media. We want you to know that we are continuing our collaborative work with federal and state agencies in the U.S. and Mexico, and have engaged leading food safety experts to analyze our processes and add to our existing expertise. When we find the problem, we will fix it and take every step possible to keep it from happening again.

A&W is a family company, working here isn’t just about what we do, it is an important part of who we are. The very foundation of our company is based on ensuring the quality of the fresh produce we grow, ship and sell. And I know the state-of-the-art growers we partner with in Mexico share the same passion for protecting consumer health and safety.

On a personal note, in reading information about the illnesses, it was clear that many doctors need additional guidance to ensure the timely diagnosis and treatment of food-borne illnesses. With that in mind, we will be making a donation to STOP Foodborne Illness, a non-profit organization devoted to assisting those impacted by foodborne illness. This donation is in support of STOP’s efforts to create an educational packet about foodborne illness to send to every pediatric emergency room and hospital in the U.S. so that patients receive a timely diagnosis and proper treatment.

While we recognize that our actions cannot alleviate the pain caused by a victim’s suffering or worse, the loss of a loved one, the A&W family promises you that we will learn from this experience. We will never forget what happened. And you can rest assured that our food safety decisions will forever be influenced by the memory of consumers who have been impacted by this recall.

As we have learned more about STOP Foodborne Illness and the work that they do, we hope other produce companies will consider donating to this organization and this effort to help educate health professionals so diagnoses can be made more quickly to alleviate suffering and save lives.

David Murray, Partner
Andrew and Williamson