The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a recall of 1.58 million pounds of ready-to-eat hot dogs, bacon, sausages and other precooked or cured meat that may not have been cooled properly before shipping to grocery stores.
The agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed that Massachusetts-based Kayem Foods initiated the recall after a retailer complained this month that the food was delivered warm. The company cited “temperature abuse” concerns stemming from a warehouse cooler system malfunction.
As of Wednesday, there were no confirmed reports of illness related to the recall.
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“Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them,” the inspection service said Saturday. “These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”
The products also included meatballs, smoked brisket and sliced deli meat.
All of the problematic meat was sold in stores nationwide between June 7 and Oct. 14. It was produced between March 31 and Oct. 7, according to the USDA.
Affected brand names include Kayem, Jordan’s, McKenzie, Deutschmacher, Triple M and Al Fresco.
A Kayem Foods spokesman referred The Washington Times to a statement the company posted on Friday announcing the recall.
“We take food safety very seriously and apologize to our valued consumers,” said Matt Monkiewicz, the company’s CEO. “Our management team takes full responsibility. We have learned from and corrected the issue and will not allow this to happen again.”
The recall includes products with EST. M/P 7839, EST. P 20935A and EST. M 9520 inside their USDA labels.
Consumers with questions about the recall may call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or email MPHotline@usda.gov.
They can also report problems online to the agency’s Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System.
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