Seal of the USDA; image courtesy of the
U.S. Government via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org

If you have pepperoni jotted down on your grocery shopping list, you may want to reconsider. Earlier this week, Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp., doing business as Margherita Meats, Inc., issued a recall for about 10,990 pounds of ready-to-eat pepperoni products that may be contaminated with Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).The issue was found during routine product testing by the Department of Defense. Once discovered, the department notified FSIS of the matter. Unfortunately, the recalled products were shipped to retailers nationwide. They were produced and packaged on June 17, 2021, and specifically includes the following:

• 8-oz. plastic shrink-wrapped packages containing unsliced pepperoni “Margherita PEPPERONI” with lot code P1931C and a “use by date” of 12-14-21 represented on the label.

All of the products have establishment number EST. 19 printed inside the USDA mark of inspection. Fortunately, there have been no reports of consumers experiencing adverse reactions after consuming the affected pepperoni. However, FSIS is worried that some of the pepperonis may be in consumer homes. For now, consumers who have the products should either throw them away or return them for a refund. What is Bacillus cereus, though? For starters, it’s a toxin-producing microorganism that may cause a host of unpleasant symptoms, including vomiting and diarrhea. People with weak immune systems are especially vulnerable and often require antibiotics and other supportive care if infected.

Sources:

Over 10,000 pounds of pepperoni recalled over Bacillus cereus contaminationSmithfield Is Recalling Over 10,000 Pounds Of Pepperoni