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Odwalla Case

Ethical Issues and the Legal Environment of Business

In October of 1996, Odwalla was informed that their juice might be the cause of a dozen cases of E. Coli poisoning in the Seattle area. Based on interviews from the families, the health officials identified the bacteria to be associated with Odwalla apple juice. The officials do not have any proof of the bacteria, and that it may be a while until they know anything for sure. Health officials haven’t even made public announcement or even ordered a product recall yet. No one was precisely sure on how much a recall would cost or how much a recall would hurt the company. They aren’t really sure which lots were affected, or what was out there in the consumers’ hands. Odwalla, Inc. now has a big problem: Did Odwalla produce apple juice containing the E. Coli bacterium?

A jazz musician named Greg Seltenpohl, his wife, and a friend, in 1980, founded the company. It started with fresh-squeezed orange juice in a backyard shed and expanded to a 65,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility with a variety of juices including apple juices. By 1


The solution to conduct a public recall has been chosen and now we need to implement this idea. The heads of the company should be the ones to let the public know that there is a recall and not to drink any of the apple juice. The communication should be to the consumers and retailers so that there can be immediate action on the recall. The first thing to do is the recall. Once the recall is done then there needs to be measures taken to fix the production of the apple juice so that they are sure there is no E. Coli. Maybe this will mean to pasteurize the apple juice from here on. The FDA needs to do some more research on the E.Coli and it would look really good for Odwalla if they donated money in the effort to find out more about the bacteria. So it is clear that recalling the juice is the best alternative in the short run as well as the long run.

The juice sold at premium prices, contained no preservatives or any artificial ingredients, and was not pasteurized. The company believed that juices that were not pasteurized retained more vitamins, enzymes, and flavor. Though they didn’t pasteurize their juices, they had many efforts in the manufacturing process to ensure quality and to avoid possible contamination. Odwalla was also a socially responsible company, and was aware of environmental issues with are critical to their mission. The company has won numerous awards for its environmental practices, and the name Odwalla was identified with a healthful lifestyle.

The actual problem for Odwalla occurred in October of 1996 when the E. Coli scare started. The families told health officials that they had drunk Odwalla apple juice, so that is why Odwalla has the problem now. What we do know is that Washington Health Officials have not yet made a public announcement, not have they even ordered Odwalla to issue a recall. The real cause of the problem here is that the information regarding E. Coli isn’t even accurate. Researchers stated that the E. Coli has mutated so that it could survive more acidic conditions at a temperature in which the apple juice is stored at. Another issue is that only as few as 500 bacteria is required to cause illness, not a major breakdown in the system to spread it. Odwalla, believes that pasteurization affects the quality of their product so they do not use this to make sure all the bacteria is eliminated. The fact is that Odwalla has follo

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Approximate Word count = 1621
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)


  

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