Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994 TAG: 9410310019
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MARSHALL, MINN. LENGTH: Medium
A recent salmonella outbreak, however, has forced the normally quiet company out of its shell.
``This setback has tested the mettle not only of the company, but of the town, which protects the good reputation of the company and its employees much like a big brother would,'' the Independent of Marshall wrote in a recent editorial.
This farming community, where Schwan's is based, owes much of its vitality to the company and has rallied heartily to support it.
Schwan's employs 7,500, sells products such as Red Baron pizza, Good-N-Fast sandwiches and, of course, Schwan's ice cream, and counts hospitals and the military as customers.
The privately owned company does not disclose sales or profits, but published reports put Schwan's sales at about $1.8 billion a year. (Schwan's operates a warehouse and distribution center in Bedford. It would not say Friday the size of its local work force.)
Its yellow trucks with a swan profile on the side have chugged countless miles across the nation's countryside. Many customers are on a first-name basis with the drivers.
Recently, however, the company's reputation has given way to a less pastoral image.
Within the past two weeks, as many as 5,000 people across the country say they contracted food poisoning after eating Schwan's ice cream. Salmonella was confirmed in 16 states, and experts were studying more than 3,000 suspected cases in 20 other states. Salmonella poisoning can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever and headaches.
The company's ice cream troubles led the national news and even provided fodder for Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live. Suddenly, the reclusive company faced a public relations nightmare.
``For a company that's deliberately low profile, it's been a real culture shock,'' said Dave Jennings, a former Minnesota House Speaker who is now a Schwan's spokesman. ``It's particularly painful when some of the things they're saying are less than kind.''
Schwan's swiftly shut down its ice cream factory, opened a 24-hour hot line and promoted rebates on suspect ice cream. It also offered to pay for diagnostic medical exams.
To prevent similar happenings, Schwan's plans to lease tankers to haul its mix from suppliers and not allow those trucks to carry other products. Also, the company is installing a pasteurization unit to cook the mix even though it already has gone through a pasteurization process at the supplier's plant, Jennings said.
The repercussions of the outbreak aren't fully known, but Schwan's won't escape unscathed. Along with costs accrued from the shutdown, four class-action suits have been filed in Minneapolis on behalf of victims nationwide.
Still, Schwan's has weathered its share of crises. In 1957, floods damaged the young company's equipment and supplies. In 1974, fire decimated its headquarters and ice-cream factory. Schwan's subsequent rise from the ashes became a local legend.
SCHWAN'S UPDATE
Ice cream that is unsafe to consume is marked with product codes 19-114 or 19-115 and was produced at the company's plant in LeMars, Iowa
As of noon Friday, Schwan's estimated it had recaptured 90 percent of the ice cream exposed to salmonella.
by CNB