CSPI Threatens Safeway with Lawsuit

WASHINGTONThe nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) threatened Safeway with a lawsuit against the grocery chain if it fails to adopt a policy to notify loyalty Club Card members who purchased contaminated food subject to recalls.

According to CSPI, many other leading retailers use customer contact information generated by their bonus card programs to notify consumers when theyve purchased recalled food.

It shocks the conscience that a major retailer would sit on its hands, even though it has easy access to the e-mails, addresses and phone numbers of those who have purchased food that might be contaminated, said CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner in a press release.

Unless Safeway makes a commitment to notify consumers of Class 1 recallsthose recalls of products that predictably could cause serious health problems or deathCSPI will file a lawsuit aimed at compelling the company to do so, the group said in a letter to Safeway chairman and CEO Steven A. Burd. In the letter, CSPI said Safeways failure to notify consumers that theyve bought potentially dangerous products violates state consumer protection laws in Texas, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and California.