Kroger, Dollar General, and Other Chains Are Pulling This One Food From Shelves

IF YOU BOUGHT THIS CANNED ITEM AT ANY OF THE POPULAR STORES, AUTHORITIES SAY TO THROW IT AWAY.

We all have items in our pantries that have been sitting there for way too long—we just haven't gotten around to tossing them. But if you have a pantry full of certain canned foods, then it may be time to do some purging right now. One of the latest recalls announced by the the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is of a canned product that's sold at major chains, from Kroger to Dollar General. Read on to find out the details and what you should do if you have the product in question at home.

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More than 525,000 pounds of canned beef products have been recalled.
Kroger

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on Oct. 8 that one company's canned meat, sold at major retailers nationwide, are being recalled. Manufacturer Crider Foods of Stillmore, Georgia, is recalling approximately 525,717 pounds of canned beef with gravy products.

While you may not be familiar with the name Crider Foods, the manufacturer's products are behind some well-known store and other brand names, like Dollar General's Clover Valley, Kroger, Hostess, and Armour.

The products all have Oct. 22, 2020 or Mar. 15, 2021 production dates and therefore have best-by dates two years after. These are the canned beef products subject to recall:

12-oz. cans of "Hargis House ROAST BEEF AND GRAVY" with best-buy dates of 10/22/2022 and 3/15/2023
12-oz. cans of "Clover Valley FULLY COOKED ROAST BEEF WITH GRAVY" with best-buy dates of 10/22/2022 and 3/15/2023
12-oz. cans of "Kroger ROAST BEEF WITH GRAVY" with best-buy dates of 10/22/2022 and 3/15/2023
12-oz. cans of "Hostess ROAST BEEF WITH GRAVY" with best-buy dates of 10/22/2022 and 3/15/2023
12-oz. cans of "Laura Lynn roast beef WITH GRAVY" with best-buy dates of 10/22/2022 and 3/15/2023
12-oz. cans of "ARMOUR Roast Beef WITH GRAVY" with best-buy dates of 10/22/2022 and 3/15/2023
12-oz. cans of "HARVEST CREEK Roast Beef with Gravy" with best-buy dates of 10/22/2022 and 3/15/2023

The products all have the establishment number "EST. 31812" on the can.

RELATED: Walmart Is Pulling This One Food From All of Its Stores Immediately, FDA Says.

The recall was issued after it was found that a spice used in the canned products contained "unsafe levels of lead."
Shutterstock/FabrikaSimf

These products were recalled because they may be "contaminated with unsafe levels of lead," the notice posted by the USDA states. During routine surveillance, Crider Foods—in conjunction with FSIS—found that the canned roast beef products were seasoned with a spice mix from an outside source that had unsafe levels of lead.

As the Mayo Clinic explains, "Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body, often over months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. … At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal." Signs include high blood pressure, joint and muscle pain, difficulties remembering or concentrating, headaches, abdominal pain, and mood disorders, while the situation can also lead to reduced sperm count and abnormal sperm, and miscarriage, stillbirth, or premature birth.

Luckily, the recall notice states, there have been "no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products."

The USDA is urging customers to throw these products away.
Shutterstock

In the recall notice, the USDA's FSIS says consumers who have any of the aforementioned canned roast beef products in their pantries "are urged not to consume them." Instead, they say, "These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase."

If you have any questions about the recall, you can contact Mark Howell, president of Crider Inc., at [email protected] or (912) 536-1424. You can also contact the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) or you can chat the USDA from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

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Multiple foods sold at Kroger have been recalled recently.
Shutterstock

This is hardly the first recall to affect Kroger shoppers recently. In the past two weeks, Simple Mills crackers and DiGiorno pizza sold at the grocery store chain have been recalled, but a short while prior, a few other items with the Kroger name were also pulled from shelves: certain lots of kale and two pre-made salad bowls were pulled, with the former being due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and the latter due to an undeclared ingredient (anchovies, which are a common allergen)

RELATED: Major Grocery Stores Are Pulling This One Snack From Shelves.