. . . June
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The Buzz Log - Bad Eggs, Tainted Meat, Stall-Outs: The Recall Recap
Yahoo! Buzz: "2007 was dubbed the year of the recall — but that dubious honor may have been premature. Three years ago, news of melamine-tainted dog food, salmonella-harboring peanut butter, and lead-painted toys all spurred a constant and at times frantic stream of online interest. A record-setting 472 products had to be sent back to companies. The furor led to renewed calls for companies to address systemic breakdowns and for government to strengthen oversight at home and overseas.
But that was before dangerous cribs, loose floor mats, and even worse peanut butter in 2009. These days, it's bad eggs — millions of them. The past 7 days alone on Yahoo! saw 82 different 'egg recall' searches, including 'egg recall 2010,' 'fda egg recall,' 'salmonella egg recall,' 'egg recall lot numbers,' 'salmonella egg recall numbers.'
And there's more: New warnings have come out on tainted beef, suspicious medicines, and exploding batteries. This is going to require even more online vigilance."
Voluntary recalls, especially for food products and drugs, have actually increased in the past three years — although how much of that is due to increased industry sensitivity and better testing technology is hard to measure. The Obama administration has pushed government agencies to toughen up on product crackdowns: The FDA, dinged for decreasing domestic food inspections between 2004 and 2008, now wants to bring criminal charges against executives whose companies have had many recalls.
How bad's the frequency? Well, now there's an app for updates — from Recall.gov, which consolidates recall news from several regulatory agencies. As for which products have preoccupied people's attention the most, here are the week's most-searched recalls.
Read On . . .
