Do you dine on swine? Are you a dork for pork? You might want to hold off on pigging out.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today that a Pennsylvania firm has recalled approximately 5,550 pounds of pureed pork products that may contain foreign materials. The problem was brought to light after two consumers reported finding small metal fragments in meat purchased in 4.5-lb. boxes of Imperial Sysco "Puree Shaped Meats Country Style Pork and Binder Product."
The producer, K. Heeps, Inc. of Allentown, Pennsylvania, has received no reports of illness or injury following the discovery, and believe that metal pieces may have "broken off of the blending equipment during clean up and reassembly at the plant and subsequently entered the product," according to the FSIS press release.
The release goes on to note that, "Each box bears 'EST. 9379' inside the USDA mark of inspection and a production code of 06/16/11. The pureed pork products were produced on June 16, 2011, and shipped to California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Virginia for institutional use. "
The company encourages consumers with specific questions to contact Quality Assurance Manager, David Pychinka, at (610) 530-5564 and many general food safety queries can be answered via the FSIS virtual representative available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov.