When it comes to food recalls, I am the Food Institute’s point man. On any given day, three to four food recalls will pop into my RSS feed, ranging from undeclared allergens to potential pathogens to contamination with extraneous materials. So you may understand why I took notice of about ten recalls all pointing to the same reason for recall: undeclared milk.
Advance Pierre Foods Inc., Aldon Food Corp., Conagra Brands, Gourmet Boutique LLC, Maid-Rite Specialty Foods LLC, Packer Avenue Foods Inc., Pork King Sausage, Slade Gorton, Stop & Shop, Tyson Foods Inc. and Water Lilies Food Inc. all voluntarily recalled products due to misbranding and undeclared milk between June 8 and June 10. The products ranged from pork sausage to ready-to-eat breaded chicken to pasta, and all included one ingredient: bread crumbs.
Most of the recalls note that the process was started following a warning from an unnamed supplier that an ingredient had undeclared milk in it. This creates a fairly large issue for food producers, as milk is a Class I recall under USDA standards. Such a product recall is classified as “a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”
According to a report from the Miami Herald, the recall includes at least 3.7 million-lbs. in food products, some of which was sent to schools. Tyson Foods recalled about 2.5 million-lbs of breaded chicken products sold to institutions around the nation, while Conagra recalled about 700,000-lbs. of canned pasta products sold under the the Libby’s, Del Pino’s, Hy-Top, Food Hold, Essential Everyday and Chef Boyardee brands.
Thus far, no illnesses have been reported due to the products, but with nearly 4.0 million-lbs. worth of food products using the bread crumbs, it seems like only a matter of time before the CDC begins tracking illnesses related to the product. As of press time, the supplier remains unnamed, but stay tuned to Today in Food and The Food Institute Blog for the latest updates and additional recalls, if applicable.