Personal Injury Law

Ivar's Turkey Soup Recall

By Kenneth Odza

Ivar Haglund was a Seattle legend.  In these parts, he was known only by his first name, the way you can refer to "Michael" when you're discussing basketball and people know you mean Michael Jordan.  His food is at Sea-Tac Airport, Safeco Field and Qwest Field.  From 1964 until it was discontinued for this year, he sponsored one of the largest fireworks displays in Seattle on the Fourth of July, which was called Fourth of Jul-Ivar's.  Every city, I imagine, has someone like Ivar, but he was ours.

Ivar's is known for seafood.  The original restaurant was called Acres of Clams, right on the waterfront.  His landmark Salmon House is on Lake Union next to Dale Chihuly's house and studio; you can sometimes see Chihuly with his trademark patch walking past Ivar's. 

I had no idea Ivar's made turkey soup until it was recalled.

You couldn't buy Ivar's turkey soup, more particularly "turkey-flavored egg noodle soup with turkey meat", even before it was recalled.  It is only sold to institutions.  I imagine it is a way of increasing revenue from by-products that might otherwise have to be thrown out or recycled.

So what was wrong with the soup?

Absolutely nothing.  Bring it by and I'll happily consume it (though not expecting it to be a high-end product, given the market).

Why then the recall?  Because the packaging didn't indicate that it contained milk and milk is a known allergen. 

Ordinarily, I might note also that vegans don't ingest milk products either, so the mislabeling might cause an issue with them.  And of course Jewish dietary laws prohibit the mixing of milk with poultry.  So in both cases, there might have been mislabeling issues unrelated to milk's status as an allergen.  However, vegans don't eat turkey anyway, and observant Jews only eat turkey that has been properly ritually slaughtered, as would be evidenced by a rabbi's stamp on the package, which I somehow doubt Ivar's had.  Incidentally, the rabbinical kosher stamp here in Seattle incorporates a Space Needle into the K. 

Full post as published by Food Liability Law Blog on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).