ConAgra's response leaves a lot to be desired, doesn't it?

These are the same wonderful folks who brought us the peanut butter recall last winter / spring. Thet see to have some serious quality control isssues, IMHO.

I think I'll hunt around for a snail mail address for the chairman and the CEO and mail them each a sampling of their products from the pantry which I no longer have confidence in -- just as I no longer have cnfidence in heir company. Maybe they'll get the point.

Lets see, google , google......
http://www.conagrafoodscompany.com/

Chief Operating Officer
Gary Rodkin

Executive Vice President
Resaerch, Quality and Innovation
Al Bolles, Ph.D.

President and Chief Operating Officer
Consumer Foods
Dean Hollis

Interestingly, not a street address anywhere on the web site, though they boast of being located in America's heartland at Omaha, Nebraska.

From the SEC 10Q filed October 3, 2007, ConAgra operates from:

One ConAgra Drive, Omaha, Nebraska 68102-5001

(402) 595-4000

Time fo me to mail them some of their poducts back.

I'm with you ... now how do I determine ConAgra's products? They control, roughly, 25% of your basic grocery store. They produce "generics" for major brands; its $1 billion in private label sales, and ConAgra has refused to disclose the complete list of private brands it produces. Plus, ConAgra (through subs ConAgra Food Ingredients) supports OTHER brands (and you can't tell this from the labels) because of their involvement in the ingredient markets (2006 sales of 4.3 billion dollars). Oh, and don't forget fertilizers ... ConAgra Fertilizer is a 480 million dollar game. And, don't think you can just boycott the American market ... ConAgra is an international player (ConAgra International, ConAgra International (Far East), United Milling Systems (Denmark)). Check out http://www.secinfo.com/dmWu.9y.8.htm for their subs.

Makes you just want to get away and take a vacation (just don't go to Knott's Berry Farm ... that's a ConAgra sub too).

ConAgra gets to play the risk-game with people's lives because (1) they are powerful enough to dictate terms to the market and (2) the USDA is completely hand-tied by the industry. The point at which a company has the ability to dictate terms to both the government and the market is a point at which some action is necessary.

I still don't get what the big stink is about the recalls? Everything I've read says that if you cook the chicken pot pie (who the hell wouldn't??) you have zero risk of getting salmonella.

Chis -

Jack put up a link to a list of ConAgra's retail brands.

http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/brands/index.jsp

Since the Baquet items are ConAgra retail brands, I'm all for mailing unused retail brand items from my pantry back to Dean Hollis.

I'll choose to fight the small battles on the retail brands, and not worry about Knott's Berry Farm or fertilizer or industrial ingredients riht now.

So those of you who have been heating your pot pies by leaving them on teh dashboard of your car, this is your warning!

Criminy, when we eat pot pies, we cook the hell out of them until the filling is boiling out, as per the instructions!

Golly, did you all know eating raw eggs or burgers will make you sick? Sharp knives will cut you! Running in traffic will get you killed or maimed!

If these (nasty) pot pies are cooked per the instructions, you are not going to get sick. Microwave them or under heat them, and not only will they taste crappier than they do when prepared properly, they (like many, many foods), will make you sick.

I am of the view that anyone who eats a Banquet brand pot pie has assumed the risk in any event!

Just another example of how huge corporations have the public's interest clamped down at the 'nads. They have figured the cost of a recall would be more than the negative PR--never mind the potential public health danger.

These things are pretty good when baked in the oven for a good hour.

Just don't eat too many of them or you will be getting your arteries roto-rootered in no time.

Let's review...
Marie Calendar and Banquet both made by Con-Agra...no doubt all that "chicken" goo comes from the same vat???
And simon, the deaths were 2 children!; perhaps they were unsupervised and hungry. ALL food should be safe (even if it is not especially healthy)and the companies who produce this stuff should bear some responsibilty for the safety of their products.

Relax, this product is still safe to eat as long as you take some precautions. For example: When the chicken pot pie is still frozen, set it on the ground, then hit it as hard as you can with a baseball bat.

I've just found the dreaded "P-9" code on Walmart's "Great Value" Chicken Pot Pies purchased 10-08-07 in Staunton, VA. Yummmm !

As an aside...

The best chicken pot pies in the world can now be found at "Claim Jumpers" restaurant off I-5 at Boones Ferry, across from Bridgeport Village. I went there for luch, and the number of "senior citizens" and kids alike enjoying their signature dish was a testament to the quality and service. Costing more than several "Banquet" pies, it was worth it - and the leftovers carried me thru the next day. Anyhow, give it a try.

No, I am not employed by them.

So Portland Native, I guess raw chicken should not be sold because if eaten undercoooked one might get sick. Likewise pork.

We live ina germ ridden, unsafe world. The benefits of the mass production of food come with risks. Those risks need to be minimized, within teh confines of common sense, by the processors/manufacturers. But they also need to be minimized by the consumer applying common sense. I am not defending ConAgra, but I am defending common sense and taking care of ones self instead of always blaming The Man for problems.

Unsupervised kids should not be reheating pot pies unless and until they know how to read, use an oven safely, and follow instructions.

I may be alone in this but I think every microwave oven should come with a warning label that it should be used for ehating water and reheating previously cooked, refrigerated leftovers only. they shouldn't be used for "cooking."

Simon--Most microwaves come with cookbooks. Evidently their manufacturers think they can be used for cooking. Maybe not gourmet cooking, although I'm sure someone has written a "gourmet" microwave cookbook.

Yeah, baking a potato in an oven can taste better than nuking it, but when the steak takes 10 minutes, who wants to wait another 50 for the potato?

And if you cook the Banquet pot pies on high long enough, they'll heat up and kill the salmonella. Simon is right, pot pies are not a dashboard-top product, though you might have some luck wrapping them in foil and fastening them to your engine block.

I'm sure there are more serious charges to nail Con-Agra on that this issue.

Relax, this product is still safe to eat as long as you take some precautions. For example: When the chicken pot pie is still frozen, set it on the ground, then hit it as hard as you can with a baseball bat.
Posted by Bill McDonald | October 11, 2007 12:26 PM

LMAO...I think I like that idea the best