Sharp increase seen in processed meat recalls
Besides glass, consumers finding metal and plastic
WASHINGTON — Bits of metal, hard plastic, rubber and even glass are increasingly getting mixed and baked into processed meat products reaching consumers, triggering a record number of safety recalls, a Washington Post analysis of federal records shows.
So far this year, the Agriculture Department has announced 34 recalls involving 17 million pounds of meat products after stray materials were found in them.
In 2009, when there were five such recalls involving about 1 million pounds of processed meat.
Metal parts are breaking off machines that mix, chop and puree ingredients. Plant workers’ rubber gloves are falling into the meat mixes. And bits of plastic and glass from meat packaging and ingredient containers are getting ground into the food.
The makers of some of the most beloved and recognizable ready-made food staples have issued the recalls, including Tyson Foods chicken tenders, Jimmy Dean sausages and Spam.
The stray items, which the USDA calls “foreign objects,” typically are found after a consumer bites into a meat product, records show, sometimes chipping teeth in the process. The objects can cause choking and can injure the intestinal tract.
“There is this initial shock when you find something that clearly does not belong, such as a screw or shrapnel or packing material,” said Robert Rausch, a New York food safety lawyer. “It’s shock; it’s disgust. The concern always is whether there were other pieces that you swallowed.”
A number of changes are causing the recalls to rise, according to USDA and industry experts.
Manufacturers are revving up processing line speeds to increase production, sometimes using old equipment that breaks down under the added strain. Consumers are taking their complaints public, naming the companies on social media, often including photos of the contaminated food. And USDA reporting requirements for the contamination, in response to a congressional mandate, became more stringent in 2012.
The USDA acknowledges that consumer complaints about the contamination are on the rise. It issued guidelines in March to food manufacturers to get them to respond more quickly to reported problems, saying companies sometimes issued recalls only after “multiple customer complaints.”
Two months after the guidelines were issued, Tyson Foods announced what is said to be the largest U.S. processed meat recall ever for foreign matter contamination — metal shavings may have ended up in as much as 12 million pounds of chicken strips.
The recall was expanded once — adding nearly 11.8 million pounds of chicken strips to the original recall of 69,093 pounds — and involved six consumer complaints, three with “oral injuries,” records show.
Details in USDA recall notices are sparse. Tyson Foods declined to respond to requests by The Washington Post for more specific information regarding victim injuries. It also declined to explain how the food became contaminated or how the problem was resolved.
The Post examined more than 150 USDA recall notices for foreign object contamination from 2009 to this year. For each recall, The Post recorded the manufacturer’s name, type of food, pounds of recalled product, type of foreign material and the manner in which the contamination was discovered.
The analysis showed the spike in recalls began in 2016. Pieces of plastic accounted for nearly half of the recalls for foreign objects and metal for nearly 25%. The rest of the recalled food was contaminated with either rubber, glass, cardboard or wood.
Processed meat products range from raw, marinated meat — considered semiprocessed — to cooked products that are ready-toserve after heating. Most frequently recalled were sausages and breaded chicken products. Deli meats, beef stews, meatfilled burritos, hamburger patties and chicken pizza were also recalled.
Although many of the recalls involved millions of pounds of processed food, not all of it was necessarily contaminated. Companies stamp processing dates and locations on product packaging so when contamination is found, products produced at the same plant during the same time frame can be pulled for safety.
The USDA does not have the power to order a recall; it can only recommend one based on what it knows about contamination of a product.
The industry is chafing at some of the 2012 federal reporting requirements. The regulation requires that companies provide more details to the USDA when they find contamination and that they do so faster.
The agency also requires notification when contamination doesn’t reach consumers but is discovered midstream, such as when beef is mixed into stew in a processing plant or honeyglazed ham is sliced at a deli counter.