![odwalla apple juice odwalla apple juice](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/fd/ee/d7/fdeed704adea41ea495b967cc8d879e1--grape-juice-apple-juice.jpg)
It focused on its stakeholders especially, customer relations in the months following, attempting to rebuild trust. The public largely believed Odwalla’s explanations because its reputation for social responsibility was iron-clad in its consumers’ minds. Odwalla also lost a third of its market value by the time everything subsided, and pled guilty to criminal charges relating to the outbreak, which resulted in a $1.5 million fine from the FDA.
Odwalla apple juice update#
In their strategies to restore trust, there were daily press briefings by Odwalla to update the public, along with full- page newspaper ads and a website explaining the situation.Īs a result of the crisis, the company had faced its worst case scenario death caused by one of its food products. Again, the company publicly promised to pay for all medical expenses of injured consumers and to re-evaluate its manufacturing process immediately. Odwalla implemented a media strategy including daily statements to the press, internal conference calls where managers were informed of updates, and setting up a website to disseminate information. At the height of the outbreak, government investigators confirmed that the Odwalla products were in fact the source of the E. coli-related illnesses in a period of just one month. As many as 60 other consumers were hospitalized with E. Odwalla’s corporate crisis took a tragic turn when in November 1996, a 16-month-old child died from E. He accepted responsibility when talking to the media and promised to pay all medical costs for those affected by the outbreak. The CEO, Stephen Williamson immediately recalled all Odwalla products containing apple or carrot juice, which cost the company around $6.5 million. Washington state health officials confirmed a link between a local E.coli outbreak and Odwalla’s fresh, unpasteurized apple juice. This was a major financial commitment involving the removal of Odwalla products from nearly 4,600 retail outlets in seven states in just 48 hours. Although there was no demonstrable link at this point, Odwalla’s executive management team decided to mobilize a voluntary recall of products containing apple or carrot products. After learning of the potential link, Odwalla’s executive management team had an emergency meeting to discuss their response.
![odwalla apple juice odwalla apple juice](https://d2iiahg0ip5afn.cloudfront.net/media/odwalla---smoobucha/images/368870134.odwalla-15oz-smoobucha-applegreens-facts.jpg)
coli outbreak and Odwalla apple and carrot juice-this was the warning stage. On October 30, 1996, health officials in the state of Washington notified Odwalla that they were investigating a possible link between the E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that develops as a result of contamination of food products or processing. coli 2 struck several West Coast states, including California and Washington, and reached into western Canada as well. In fact, Odwalla was one of the pioneers of a wider movement in the United States favouring more organic food consumption. Perhaps the most essential part of their business model was their claim that their juice was fresh from the fruit and without the pasteurization process that was used by other juice producers. Starting with a hand juicer and organically grown fruit, the owners produced fresh juice in the back shed of one of the founder’s homes and sold their juice by delivering it daily to area restaurants. Odwalla Juice Company was started in 1986 by a group of health-conscious friends living together in the San Francisco Bay area.