Health Law

Beef patties recalled due to Listeria contamination; likely out of commerce

By Drew Falkenstein

United Food Group, LLC, a California business, is recalling approximately 7,875 pounds of ready-to-eat Angus Beef patties that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.  The products subject to recall include 22.5-pound cases of 'FULLY COOKED BLACK ANGUS GROUND BEEF STEAK PATTIES,' with each case containing 75 individual 4.8-ounce patties.
Each package bears the establishment number 'EST. 31835' inside the USDA mark of inspection, a use-by date of '10-11-2011,' and is marked with either 'LINE #31 or LINE #32.'

The product subject to recall was produced on Oct. 11, 2010, and shipped to a single distributor in California for further distribution to institutional users. The recall notice also indicates, however, that the "product has been used and is no longer available in commerce. The company discovered, while conducting a year-end inventory, that the implicated product placed on hold was inadvertently shipped into commerce. As a result, the company conducted a recall and has retrieved and destroyed any remaining product from commerce."

Recall is the right action to take nonetheless.  Ground beef patties have a way of winding up in freezers and laying dormant for months on end.  Best to let the public, even if just "institutional users," know about the problem. 

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on January 18, 2011 (boomark / email).