High End “Natural” Jerky Implicated
A California manufacturer of high-priced natural meat snacks without gluten or nitrites, Krave Jerky, has been pulled into the massive recall of millions of pounds of meat produced by the nearby Rancho Feeding Corporation slaughterhouse.
Because some of its jerky was made with beef from Rancho, which is being investigated for processing and selling “diseased and unsound animals” without a full inspection, Krave Jerky has ordered a recall for some of its garlic chili pepper flavored jerky.
This particular recall is small, and only covers one day’s production, from Sept. 30, 2013. In all, it involves less than 8,000 snack bags of the jerky, which is a tiny fraction of the 8 million bags the company reportedly sold last year. Unfortunately, as news of the recall spread, via an announcement from the Monterey County Health Department, the size and the scope were misunderstood, and caused a slight bit of panic for a time. Many early news reports failed to mention that the recall only covered those packages with a “best before” date of Sept. 30, 2014. So far, only about five bags of the jerky has been recovered, but company officials don’t expect to find many, because they were purchased late last year, before the Agriculture officials discovered the problem and shut down the slaughterhouse, which has since been sold to a northern California rancher.
Krave, a relatively new company founded in 2010, is just the latest in a lengthening roster of companies whose names have been connected to the massive recall of Rancho Feeding products. So far, according to the Department of Agriculture , the possibly unsafe beef has been found in more than 6,400 retail outlets nationwide, including small specialty stores and large national chains. Some have suggested that the recall could eventually cover nearly eight times that many outlets when all is said and done.
The recalled Krave jerky was produced at a plant in Salt Lake City and shipped to retailers by early November. The company just found out on March 5 that some of the meat used to make its product was provided by a distributor who disclosed having purchased the beef from Rancho Feeding. Within 48 hours, Krave notified the state Department of Public Health and issued a notice to its wholesale customers .
Federal health officials are still discovering where millions of pounds of potentially tainted beef ended up. If you purchased some of this jerky, or any other beef product reportedly made with beef produced by Rancho Feeding, dispose of the product and seek medical attention, just to be on the safe side. If you or someone you love has become sick or died because of any tainted food product, please contact the Texas Food Contamination Injury Lawyer at Hill Law Firm as soon as possible to protect your rights.