The New Year’s Eve crisis

Letter of Transmittal
Balasubramanian S
External Advisor to Michael’s Homestyle Pasta

31 December 2001

Mike Valenti
Founder,
Michael’s Homestyle Pasta
Connecticut, USA

Sir,
Subject:Decision report for handling the crisis arising from contamination of seafood with salmonella
Please find the enclosed decision report that presents a comprehensive analysis of the current crisis, lists the key options and evaluation criteria used and suggests key recommendations with an action plan for the future.
I recommend that Michael’s Homestyle Pasta inform the restaurant chain of the seafood contamination and request them to serve the menu-item only if the individual restaurants maintainFDA-approved cooking standards that could heat the seafood to the desired temperature.

Yours sincerely,
Balasubramanian S
External Advisorto Michael’sHomestyle Pasta
Executive Summary
Mike Valentiis considering whether he should inform a restaurant chain thatthe recent shipment of seafood sent to themiscontaminated with salmonella. He can choose to not inform the chain, inform the chain and recall the entire shipment or inform the chain and request to serve only if restaurants adhere to FDA-approved cooking standards. While deciding, he should consider the cultural precedent that he is setting for the organisation, impact on reputation of company and financial impact on the business.
It is recommended that Mike inform the chain of the contamination with a request to serve only if restaurants adhere to FDA-approved cooking standards.

Number of Words: 106

Table of Contents Content | Page Number | Executive Summary | 3 | Situational Analysis | 5 | The Problem / Objective | 6 | The Options | 6 | Criteria for Evaluation | 7 | Evaluation of Options | 7 | Recommendation | 9 | Action Plan | 9 |

Situational Analysis
As a