How About Some Wire Mesh With That Annie's Pizza?
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 10:08AM Classic: you try to avoid pesticides and you get metal fragments instead. Annie's--of organic Mac-n-Cheese fame (not Amy's, which practically invented the organic frozen pizza)--has initiated a voluntary recall of Annie's Homegrown Frozen Pizza due to the possible presence of fragments of metal in the dough.
According to the FDA, "The company announced the recall after learning a fine metal mesh screen failed at a third-party flour mill and fragments of flexible metal mesh were found in the flour and pizza dough." Annie's says they haven't found metal in their products, but are recalling as a precaution.
All varieties of Annie’s Rising Crust Frozen Pizza with a "best by" date including and between January 9 and September 14 are affected. Recalled varieties are:
- Organic Four Cheese Pizza
- Organic Pepperoni Pizza
- Organic Supreme Pizza
- Organic Spinach and Mushroom Pizza
- Four Cheese Pizza
- Pepperoni Pizza
- BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza
Dare we mention that Annie's, which started as a niche brand sold in natural food co-ops in New England, was bought out by a private equity firm, Solera Capital, some ten years ago and brought public in an IPO in 2012. The private equity firm reportedly made a paper profit of $538 million on the IPO, even though Annie's actual profits are about $112 million. According to The Wall Street Journal Solera sold $83 million worth of shares in the IPO, and took home some $23 million in "special dividends" plus another couple million for the fee.
Should they consider investing a little more in their suppliers--or perhaps buying a flour mill?
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