[lostcolony]

Actually, they were told by the FDA they only needed to do a recall in the Chicago area, and that they were not legally culpable (because of course they weren't). Their actions in no way prevented frivolous lawsuits, and they were not going to actually have any won against them for some random person spiking their product with cyanide.

Instead of doing the minimal amount they had to do, they took it a step above. It would have been perfectly okay, and business as usual, to recall in Chicago, and then to do nothing. Instead they did a nation-wide recall, and didn't reintroduce the product until they had a solution to prevent it from happening again.

[zebraflask]

Let's not belabor the conversation, but I think there were more organizational factors in play than that. Most obvious, think about the damage to the brand if consumers associate it with cyanide (of all things). The only "value" at play there was organizational and career self-preservation for the people responsible for responding to the incident. I highly doubt there were any noble impulses or high-minded values involved.

I don't have the case study details in front of me, but just as an aside, companies can be sued and will lose if the plaintiff can prove they were negligent; for example, not taking reasonable steps to prevent tampering.