(CNN) – Some 8.7 million pounds of meat from a Northern California company have been recalled because they came from “diseased and unsound” animals that weren’t properly inspected, a federal agency announced Saturday.
The recall affecting Rancho Feeding Corporation products — as detailed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service — marks a significant expansion of one announced January 13, when just over 40,000 pounds of the company’s products were recalled.
According to the U.S. agency, Rancho Feeding “processed diseased and unsound animals and carried out these activities without the benefit or full benefit of federal inspection.”
“Thus, the products are adulterated, because they are unsound, unwholesome or otherwise are unfit for human food and must be removed from commerce,” the FSIS reported. The Petaluma company made the recall.
The government agency noted there are no reported illnesses tied to these products, which went to distribution centers and retail establishments in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas. It was not immediately clear which companies got them, or whether they ended up being sold in some form at any markets or restaurants.
There was no answer Saturday night to a call from CNN to a phone number listed for Rancho Feeding Corporation.
A wide range of products are listed in the recall, including beef carcasses and various parts such as heads, cheeks, lips, livers, feet and tongues in boxes of 20 pounds and bigger. Forty-pound boxes of veal bones and 60-pound boxes of veal trim are included as well.
All of these were produced and shipped between January 1, 2013, through January 7, 2014. They all have “EST. 527” in the USDA mark of inspection and have a case code number ending in 3 or 4.
In the January announcement, the FSIS reported only that the products were being recalled only from January 8, 2014, and that they didn’t have a “full federal inspection.”
By Greg Botelho and Janet DiGiacomo
