A North Carolina-based company has issued a recall of its ground beef product after a consumer found an unexpected ingredient in the product – blue plastic chips.
Vantage Foods of Lenoir, North Carolina is recalling 1,642 pounds of ground beef that may contain the foreign material, announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Friday.
Products included in this Class III recall – the type issued when consumption of the product won’t cause adverse health consequences – were sold in 2-pound trays of fresh ground beef 93/7 under the brand “Lowe’s Foods.”
The packaging is labeled with Establishment number “EST. 34176” inside the USDA mark of inspection, and a sell-by date of 8/29/11.
The products subject to recall were produced on August 15, 2011 and distributed to retail stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
The problem was discovered when a consumer returned meat to a retail establishment, reporting the presence of blue plastic chips in the product. The store then notified Vantage Foods.
Neither FSIS nor the firm have received any reports of negative health consequences associated with the consumption of the product.
