St. Pauls, NC-based Prestage Foods Inc. Monday recalled 38,475 pounds of ground turkey after a retailer found extraneous metal in the product, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
The problem was discovered on Sept. 27 when FSIS was contacted by plant employees who were sanitizing processing equipment. On the same day, one of the retail locations that received some of the products noticed “metal shaving” in a package of ground turkey from the recalling firm and notified the company, according to the recall notice on the FSIS website.
Prestage Foods shipped the ground turkey to retail distribution centers in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The recall notice did not indicate whether those distribution centers sent the recalled product to other states.
There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.
“Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” according to the recall notice.
Publix and Weis Markets branded ground turkey, as well as Aldi’s house brand of Fit & Active ground turkey, are included in the recall. The fresh ground turkey was produced on Sept. 25 and 26.
Consumers can identify the recalled ground turkey by looking for the following label information:
- 1.3-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Publix ground turkey breast WITH NATURAL FLAVORINGS” with inkjet printing on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.
- 1.3-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Publix ground turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORINGS” with inkjet labeling on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.
- 1.2-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Fit & Active Fresh Ground Turkey With Natural Flavoring” with inkjet labeling on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.
- 1.0-lb. White Styrofoam trays with clear plastic film covering packages containing ground turkey labeled “Weis Markets Fresh Ground Turkey Breast” with inkjet labeling on the side of trays displaying the first 4 digits of 7268 and 7269.
All of the products subject to recall also have the establishment number “P-22000” printed inside the USDA mark of inspection.
FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website.
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