This Hialeah pizza company had all the ingredients, except on the box. Now there’s a product recall
Frozen Pizza Cubana products, made by Ready Dough Pizza of Hialeah, Florida, were recalled by USDA due to lack of inspection. Boxes lack list of ingredients and contain known allergens.
The packaging of Hialeah-based Ready Dough Pizza would seem to have everything going for it to entice a purchase:
For its Pizza Cubana, we see mouth-watering images of just baked pizza with just-greasy-enoughto-tantalize-the-tastebuds pepperoni perched atop oozing mozzarella cheese. There’s a stamp of approval announcing, “Authentic Cuban Style Pizza.” And there’s an illustration of the late Omar Figueroa, the dad who, with his two sons, Andy and Jordy, started the South Florida company in 2016.
The box would seem to have everything it needs to pass muster except for some pertinent information that triggered a recall of 10,584 pounds of pepperoni pizza products.
The problems? The pizza products were produced without the benefit of federal inspection, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection
Service’s Friday announcement.
The recalled products’ labeling lacks the USDA mark of inspection. Additionally, the Ready Dough Pizza products didn’t have the proper ingredients statement.
For instance, the Ready Dough Pizza products contain milk, wheat and soybeans. These ingredients are known allergens for some people. Some of the products have no ingredient label and others had the wrong ingredient label.
The frozen Cuban-style pepperoni pizza items were produced from Jan. 12, 2022, through July 13, 2022.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
The recalled products are the 14-ounce box packages of Pizza Cubana Cuban Style Pepperoni Pizza by Ready Dough Pizza, Inc.
These items were shipped to retail locations in Florida.
“The problem was discovered during routine FSIS surveillance activities when it was determined that the pepperoni pizza products did not have the USDA mark of inspection and were produced in an establishment that was not inspected by USDA,” the recall notice read.
As of the recall date, there have been no confirmed reports of anyone getting sick from eating the pizza.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
The Food Safety and Inspection Service says don’t eat them and toss them out or return them to place of purchase if you have some boxes in your freezer.
If you have questions about the recall, contact Jordy Figueroa, Ready Dough Pizza’s vice president at 305-364-5434 or readydoughpizzainc@gmail.com.
Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-674-6854.
Howard Cohen: 305-376-3619, @HowardCohen
NO HISTORY OF SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
Deputies didn’t stop at Chidester’s version of events.
An autopsy showed Blackburn had been shot in the top of her head, in the center, according to an arrest affidavit from the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office. The Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office said it couldn’t release the autopsy report to the Miami Herald/FLKeysNews.com on Friday because it’s waiting on toxicology results.
Still, nothing about the wound suggested it was self-inflicted, prosecutors determined.
“Detectives found Blackburn had no prior history of mental illness or suicidal tendencies,” sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt said in a statement on Friday.
Within two days of Blackburn’s death, Chidester was arrested on a charge of violating conditions of his pretrial release for the false imprisonment case, by breaking the nocontact order with Blackburn, and was booked into jail. His bond was set at $40,000.
On Friday, Chidester was still in jail, but now charged with murder in Blackburn’s death. His bond for the murder charge is $1 million.
It was not clear Friday afternoon whether Chidester has legal representation.
Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay called it a “sad case,” noting that few murders happen in the Keys.
“When they do occur,” Ramsay said, “the sheriff’s office will always work aggressively and vigilantly to resolve them as quickly as possible.”
Gwen Filosa: KeyWestGwen