Beef Sticks and Summer Sausages Recalled for Mislabeling from Five Southwestern States

WASHINGTON, July 9, 1998--Robertson's Hams, Inc., a Marietta, Okla., meat processing firm, is voluntarily recalling 707 pounds of summer sausage and 637 pounds of beef sticks because one of the products contains pork that is not listed as an ingredient, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today.

All 2.5-ounce packages (with 2 sticks each) of the following products are being recalled:

• Love's Country Stores Fully Cooked BEEF STICK Snack Sticks

• Love's Country Stores Fully Cooked SUMMER SAUSAGE Snack Sausage

"Est. 2261" appears inside the USDA inspection seal on the label. No other products are affected by the recall.

While the product names are correct, the beef-and-pork SUMMER SAUSAGE product has an ingredient statement that doesn't list the pork included in the product. The all-beef BEEF STICK product has an ingredient statement listing pork.

Both products were distributed to 89 Love's Country Stores in the following five southwestern states: Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

"We are alerting the public so that persons who do not wish to eat products containing pork can know about the recall," said Thomas J. Billy, administrator of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. "Consumers who do not wish to eat pork products may return the recalled product to the place of purchase," Billy said.

USDA learned of the problem after an Oklahoma state compliance officer discovered a discrepancy between the product name and ingredient statement on a product label at one of the stores. Further investigation revealed that the label printer inadvertently transposed ingredient statements on labels.

Consumers with questions about the recall may phone the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-800-535-4555. The Hotline can be reached from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday.

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