If you’re like me, you have a couple of “frequent shopper” cards in your wallet that give you discounts at the grocery stores you frequent. You probably already know that those frequent shopper cards enable retailers to track every purchase you make. And you probably already know that retailers get notified by the FDA when products are recalled. Well, this bill would make retailers connect the dots between those two sources of information:
The Consumer Recall Notification Act would require grocery stores and distribution centers to list specific recalled products and notify customers who had purchased them within 24 hours after the Food and Drug Administration issues recall.
The retailers will of course oppose this on the grounds that it will (a) increase product costs, (b) needlessly alarm consumers, and (c) cause the sky to fall. But to me, it sounds like a great idea.