Ask Us: What Happens To Food After It's Recalled?

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - A number of food items have been recalled in recent months, but what happens to the food after it's recalled?

CBS13 viewer Nhan Dinh wrote to us and asked:

"So what do companies do to foods that have been recalled? Do they burn them, do they secretly resell to another country, how do they destroy them? 1 or 2 million pounds of recalled foods are a lot of foods. It's been happening quiet often recently. I'm just curious, but really would like to know."

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We took Nhan's question to the US Department of Agriculture/Food Safety and Inspection Service. A spokesperson told us:

"When a consumer returns a product to the place of purchase, the company usually destroys the product so that resale or consumption is not possible. FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) verifies that companies have taken this action through recall effectiveness checks. It is likely that each company may have different methods for ensuring the destruction of product such as using denaturant (a dye to mark the recalled product), landfilling, and incineration. The agency also notes in every recall release that the consumer should throw out the recalled product if they do not plan to return it to the place of purchase."

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