If you’ve recently bought some ground beef in a local Kroger store, it’s best that you don’t cook it or put it on the barbecue just yet. The distributor is recalling more than 35,000 pounds of its ground beef because of a potential plastics contamination.
To make things worse, it’s not just a specific packaging of beef that is potentially contaminated. Twelve different products are being recalled, including but not limited to Ground Beef, Private Selection Angus Beef, Ground Sirloin and All Natural Laura’s Leen Beef.
The food processor and distributor responsible for delivering the beef to the Kroger stores, JBS USA from North Carolina, says that they’re recalling 35,464 pounds of raw meat in total.
They stated that hard plastic pieces might have found their way into the beef when it was being processed in their North Carolina facility.
The contamination was announced by the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.
One of the people who bought ground beef at a Kroger store found a remarkably hard piece of blue plastic in their meat. The distributor and stores aren’t taking any chances and are recalling all of the ground beef products that were produced on and around that day.
Apparently, March 22 was the date of contamination. The recalled products have an expiration/sell-by date of April 9th, 2018 carrying the USDA number EST. 34176. As you can see, the news about the possible contamination has been announced quite late, but the organizations hope that the recall will still have an effect. Besides, people who have put the ground beef in their freezer might still be at risk.
Luckily, the hard plastics don’t seem to be dangerous at this time, as no medical reports have been filed concerning the contaminated ground beef. Nonetheless, if you’ve purchased one of the packages, it’s absolutely recommended to throw it away or return it to the store for a refund or a new tray. The recall has been specified as ‘Class II’, meaning that health hazards are quite unlikely, but still remotely possible.
The food has mostly been sent to Kroger Stores, although meat found in Food 4 Less and Jay C in the Midwest are at risk of contamination as well.
Affected cities with Kroger stores are North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Illinois as well as a part of West-Virginia.
The Kroger stores have been affected the most by this recall, but a spokesperson for the company said that none of the possibly contaminated meat is for sale in their stores today.
“We encourage customers to check their freezers for the potentially affected products and not to consume them but throw them away or return them to their place of purchase for a full refund,” representative Kristal Howard told USA Today.
Here’s the full list of affected ground beef packages, courtesy of the USDA:
- 3-lb. tray packages Kroger GROUND BEEF 73% LEAN – 27% FAT with product code 95051, UPC: 011110975645
- 1-lb. tray packages Kroger GROUND BEEF 80% LEAN – 20% FAT with product code 95052, UPC: 011110969729
- 3-lb. tray packages Kroger GROUND BEEF 80% LEAN – 20% FAT with product code 95053, UPC of 011110969705
- 1-lb. tray packages PRIVATE SELECTION ANGUS BEEF 80% LEAN – 20% FAT GROUND CHUCK with product code 95054, UPC: 011110971395
- 1-lb. tray packages Kroger GROUND BEEF 85% LEAN – 15% FAT with product code 95055, UPC: 011110969682
- 1-lb. tray packages Kroger GROUND SIRLOIN 90% LEAN – 10% FAT GROUND BEEF and product code 95056, UPC: 011110975638
- 1-lb. tray packages ALL NATURAL LAURA’S LEAN BEEF 92% LEAN 8% FAT GROUND BEEF with product code 95057, UPC: 612669316714
- 1-lb. tray packages ALL NATURAL LAURA’S LEAN BEEF 96% LEAN 4% FAT GROUND BEEF with product code 95058, UPC: 612669317063
- 1-lb. tray packages PRIVATE SELECTION ANGUS BEEF 90% LEAN – 10% FAT GROUND SIRLOIN with product code 95063, UPC: 011110969637
- 1-lb. tray packages Kroger GROUND BEEF 93% LEAN – 7% FAT with product code 95064, UPC: 01111096920
- 15-lb. cases JBS Ground Beef Angus Chuck 80% Lean 20% Fat Service Case with Case UPC: 0040404800632
- 15-lb. cases Ground Beef Angus Sirloin 90% Lean 10% Fat Service Case Case UPC: 0040404800634
Even though this contamination doesn’t appear to have health risks, be sure to get rid of your affected meat or return it to the store. Better safe than sorry!
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