A massive recall involving more than 1.5 million pounds of meat product was announced this weekend after the manufacturer discovered what the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) deemed to be possible “temperature abuse.”
Here’s what that means, what meat products are affected, and what you should do if you have any of the recalled items.
What’s happened?
On Saturday, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service alerted the public about a voluntary recall by Kayem Foods Inc., a more-than-a-century-old meat products company based in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
The recall involves more than 1.5 million pounds of meat products produced by Kayem Foods. According to the FSIS, Kayem is recalling 1,584,361 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products over fears that impacted products “may have experienced temperature abuse during storage.”
The problem was discovered after one of Kayem Foods’ retail customers complained about warm product temperatures related to some of the meat products, the notice states.
Kayem then investigated the claims and found one of the warehouse coolers where the products were stored “experienced temperature deviations,” according to the FSIS.
What is “temperature abuse”?
While the term “temperature abuse” makes it sound like someone knowingly altered the meats’ temperature, the situation is actually less nefarious.
In relation to this recall, “temperature abuse” simply means that the products’ temperatures deviated from what they should have been stored at, potentially making the products unsafe to eat.
In a recall notice posted directly on Kayem Foods’ website, the company says that the issue was due to “a cooling system malfunction at one of the company’s warehouses that resulted in storage temperature deviations.”
Announcing the recall, Kayem CEO Matt Monkiewicz said, “Our business depends on providing consumers with safe food of the highest quality. Out of an abundance of caution, we are undertaking this voluntary recall.”
He added: “We take food safety very seriously and apologize to our valued consumers. Our management team takes full responsibility. We have learned from and corrected the issue and will not allow this to happen again.”
What products are included in the recall?
The more than 1.5 million pounds of meat products impacted by the recall include items sold under nine different brands:
- Al Fresco
- Deutschmacher
- Essem
- Genoa
- Jordan’s
- Kayem
- McKenzie
- Triple M
- Winnisimmet
The products include numerous ready-to-eat items, such as sausages, chicken, pork, bacon, and other products.
The FSIS says the recalled products bear the establishment numbers “EST. M/P 7839,” “EST. P 20935A” and “EST. M 9520” inside the USDA mark of inspection.
Items included in the recall “were produced approximately March 31, 2026, to Oct. 7, 2026.” Kayem Foods says the items were “stored and shipped between June 7, 2026, and October 14, 2026.”
The FSIS has published a full list of the items on its website. The agency has also published photos of the product packaging.
Kayem Foods has published its own list of recalled items here.
Where were the recalled products sold?
Neither the FSIS nor Kayem Foods has announced which retailers sold the recalled products. However, the FSIS says that the “items were shipped to retail and foodservice locations Nationwide and Hong Kong.”
The agency says that, as of the time of its notification, there have been no confirmed reports of anyone becoming ill from eating the recalled items.
What should I do if I have the recalled products?
The FSIS says consumers should check their refrigerators, as the items could still reside there even if purchased long ago.
Consumers who have the recalled items are being urged not to consume them, but instead dispose of them or return them to their place of purchase.
Those with questions about the recall can contact Kayem Foods Customer Service at 800-426-6100 or email the company at info@kayem.com.