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Another case of metal in the meat gets a ton of sausage recalled

Miami Herald - 3/24/2019

March 24-- Mar. 24--North Country Smokehouse ordered the U.S. food industry's eighth not-food-in-your-food recall in 29 days over the weekend when it pulled 2,686 pounds of kielbasa products. Some might have metal.

And the USDA recall notice says the problem didn't come to light via the company informing the USDA as usual, but USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service personnel "during a routine review of establishment consumer complaint records."

This recall covers 1-pound packages of North Country Smokehouse Original Old Fashioned Polish-Style Kielbasa and Kilchurn Estate Smoked Kielbasa with a use by -- not best by -- date of "05/09/19." Also covered are 12-ounce packages of North Country Smokehouse Natural Old Fashioned Polish-Style Kielbasa with a use by date of 04/23/19. All have "EST. 5390A" inside the USDA inspection mark.

Anyone with these sausages should either throw them away or return them to the store of purchase for a full refund. Anyone with questions can call Daniel Sarapin at North Country Smokehouse at 603-543-0234, ext. 207.

While lacking the wackiness of golf balls, bats and magnets of the March-April 2017 shower of not-food-in-your-food recalls, this run has greater quantity.

"You'd think that in 2019, we as a nation would do a better job of keeping metal and rubber out of food -- especially when it comes to products such as chicken strips that children love to eat," said U.S. PIRG Education Fund Consumer Watchdog Adam Garber in a statement emailed out after Thursday night's Tyson Chicken Strips recall after metal was found in some strips.

"While we appreciate Tyson and the Agriculture Department ensuring that stores stop selling these potentially dangerous products, a fundamental problem still exists: By the time recalls like these occur it can often be too late. Food producers and our government agencies need to work harder to ensure that what Americans eat won't make them sick, or worse."

To check your scorecards at home, here's the not-food-in-your-food recalls since Feb. 23, going in reverse chronological order:

-- Thursday, Tyson Foods recalled 69,903 pounds of chicken strips after two customer complaints of metal. Tyson also had a chicken nuggets recall in January for what it said was "soft, blue plastic" and the USDA said was rubber.

-- March 15, Procesadora La Hacienda recalled 494 boxes of corned beef after a school in Puerto Rico found metal in a chub of corned beef.

-- March 14, Productos La Aguadillana recalled 3,587 boxes of breaded chicken patties after two schools found metal in the patties during preparation.

-- March 13, 191,928 pounds of Duke's sausage snacks got pulled by Monogram Meat Snacks for the vague "product tampering" that led to a "possible product contamination." A statement from Conagra did little to clear up exactly what those phrases meant.

-- March 2, Washington Beef recalled 30,260 pounds of ground beef chubs that might have metal or plastic.

-- Feb. 26, Sahlen Packing Company recalled 13,224 pounds of Market 32 by Price Chopper Black Forest Ham after the company got a complaint of plastic in the ham made for deli use.

-- Feb. 23, 173,376 pounds of Boston Market brand frozen pork rib meals got pulled by Bellisio Foods after some customers complaiend of glass or hard plastic in the pork patty.

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