dried cranberriesRecall alert! Recall alert! All of you planning your Thanksgiving dinners, check your cranberries. Ocean Spray announced a recall Friday for sweetened, dried cranberries (AKA "Craisins") and -- HEY WAIT A MINUTE! Thanksgiving was THURSDAY -- and Ocean Spray waited until FRIDAY to announce a recall?!?

Not good, Ocean Spray. Not good. I might as well give you the details up front here: Tiny, "hair-like" fragments of metal may have been found in some packages. Ocean Spray initiated the recall on Wednesday but they didn't announce it until Friday, which brings me back to my question: REALLY, Ocean Spray? Go public with the cranberry recall AFTER Thanksgiving? Don't you think we could have used this information the day BEFORE Thanksgiving instead?

I know most people use fresh or canned cranberries for Thanksgiving day meals. I bet Ocean Spray isn't too worried about the timing of their recall announcement because dried cranberries are more of a snack food, anyway. But I saw an awful lot of dried cranberry recipes this year. People put dried cranberries in their dressing, pies, and salads. 

But doesn't this make Ocean Spray look a wee bit opportunistic? I'm so disappointed with the timing. I suspect Ocean Spray may have delayed announcing the recall Wednesday because they feared dampening cranberry sales on a major holiday -- and that timing may have put people's health at risk.

I can see how discovering metal fragments in cranberries right before one of the peak cranberry holidays would make Ocean Spray extremely nervous. If it announced the recall immediately, people might get confused and avoid buying any Ocean Spray products, not just the ones being recalled. On the other hand, while no injuries have been reported yet, what if there had been injuries? And what if one of those injured people had been you -- or one of your kids? How would you feel about the timing of the recall announcement?

Did you use dried cranberries for your Thanksgiving meal this year?

 

Image via grongar/Flickr