‘Soft, Purple Plastic’ Found in Beef Patties Leads to Recall of 20,000+ Pounds

Food and Agriculture

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A Tyson Foods subsidiary is recalling more than 20,000 pounds of beef patties that may have been contaminated with plastics, USA Today reported.

“Two consumers reported they found pieces of soft purple plastic in the product,” AdvancePierre said in a statement Wednesday. “Even though these reports involved only two items, out of an abundance of caution, the company is recalling 1,449 cases of product.”


The Enid, Oklahoma-based AdvancePierre, which was acquired by Tyson in 2017, said the 20,373 pounds of recalled Tenderbroil Patties CN Fully Cooked Flamebroiled Beef Patties had only been shipped to food service customers and were not available for purchase in retail stores.

In a recall notice published Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said that some of the recalled patties had been sold to schools. However, they were not distributed by the USDA as part of the National School Lunch Program.

The plastic in the patties was first discovered April 1 after two customers complained, FSIS said, but no one has reported falling ill after eating the beef.

“FSIS is concerned that some product may be frozen and in food service freezers,” the USDA said. “Food service locations who have purchased these products are urged not to serve or consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”

The recalled patties were produced Nov. 30, 2018. They came in 14.06 pound cases containing three bags of 30 patties, for a total of 90 per case. Their case code was 5-525-0 and their package code was 8334. They also have the establishment code “EST. 2260E” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

This is at least the third time this year that a Tyson-affiliated product has been recalled due to foreign matter contamination. In January, Tyson recalled around 36,420 pounds of chicken nuggets after customers found “soft, blue rubber” inside. Then, in March, the company recalled nearly 70,000 pounds of chicken strips when two customers said they had found “fragments of metal.”

According to Stericyle’s recall index for the fourth quarter of 2018, the most recent date for which data exists, more pounds of beef were recalled by the USDA than pounds of any other food type in three out of four quarters in 2018. It led the pack at 71.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Poultry was the number one recalled overall category at 40.5 percent in the same quarter.

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