ABSTRACT

In the early summer of 2002, I was in Honolulu with Pete Derzis, an ESPN executive. We were about to make the official announcement that ConAgra Foods would become the title sponsor of the Hawaii Bowl and as members of the media gathered at the outdoor press conference-with Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head as a backdrop-I took a call on my cell phone from our corporate counsel back home in Nebraska. The news was not good. Management at Swift & Co., at the time a part of ConAgra and one of the largest meat processing entities in the world, was concerned about the possible presence of e.coli O157:H7, a potentially deadly pathogen. We paid very close attention to food safety at ConAgra Foods. The subject occupied our daily conversations. It was a priority that started at the top with Chairman and CEO Bruce Rohde.