Sainsbury's data cock-up delays product recall email

GDPR might have been in force for over three years but still even the biggest brands are getting it wrong with Sainsbury’s the latest company to get confused about what is a service email and what is marketing one in a potentially highly damaging cock-up.

The move centres around a product recall, fuelled by a Food Standards Agency investigation into the possibility that products manufactured by Fold Hill Foods for major retailers, including Sainsbury’s and Pets At Home, contained mycotoxins, a dangerous mould.

The probe was triggered by a spike in cases of pancytopenia, with thousands of cats feared to have died from the deadly disease in the past few months.

All retailers which stocked the product, which included Sainsbury’s brands Applaws and Ava, launch a recall on June 16. However, some customers who bought cat food from the supermarket did not receive an email alert until mid-July because those who had opted out of marketing emails were erroneously excluded from product recall alerts.

In one email exchange seen by the Guardian, Sainsbury’s told a cat owner from Edinburgh that she had not been sent a product recall because she had asked not to receive promotional emails.

“I can confirm to you that after having the matter investigated, you have not received an email notification regarding our cat food recall as you have unsubscribed from our marketing emails, which is also where our recalls are provided from,” the supermarket said.

The owner learned of the product recall from Facebook groups and consumer group Which? and said her cat was unharmed. “I saw nothing from Sainsbury’s, social media or otherwise, until an email arrived from them weeks later,” she told the Guardian. “I really think Sainsbury’s has let customers down, and their product recall policy needs to be reviewed.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said that “safety is our highest priority” but admitted that a flaw in its product recall protocol meant some pet owners had received no warning for several weeks.

“A systems issue led to a delay in some customers receiving our recent recall notice,” said a spokesperson. “We put this right as soon as it was identified and we continued to display the recall notice in store and online.”

Although brands including American Express, BT, Royal Mail, Moneysupermarket, Morrisons, Flybe and Honda have all been fined for sending marketing emails which they claimed were servicing messages, Sainsbury’s is thought to be one of the first reported cases where messages were not sent when they should have been.