Possibly tainted beef products which had been distributed to two restaurants and a grocery chain have been recalled by a Missouri company, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
About 4,012 pounds of beef is being recalled by Jackson-based Fruitland American Meat because it could contain parts of the nervous system that can carry properties related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, the USDA said in a release Wednesday.
According to the Associated Press, BSE can prove to cause a fatal human brain disease in people who eat tainted beef. The disease is also known to be fatal to cows.
However, there's no indication that the slaughtered cattle showed signs of BSE, the USDA said.
Produced between September 2013 and April 2014, the products were distributed to a restaurant in New York, NY, another in Kansas City, Miss., and a Whole Foods distribution center in Connecticut, the department confirmed.
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service found the possible problem while reviewing the company's slaughter logs and said the issue may have been a result of the manner that company employees determined the age of various cattle.
Cattle that are 30 months or older need to have the dorsal root ganglia within their nervous system removed. It is uncertain whether it may have been present in some of the products.
There have been no reports of adverse reactions to eating the products so far, the USDA said.
The agency characterized the recall as a Class II recall, meaning there's a "remote probability" of health problems associated with using the recalled product.
According to the AP, the recalled products include: quartered beef carcasses stamped with the USDA mark of inspection and establishment number "EST. 2316," and 80-lb. cases containing two cryovac packages of bone-in "Rain Crow Ranch Ribeye" bearing the establishment number "EST. 2316" inside the USDA mark of inspection with the following production dates printed on the box: 9/5/13, 9/10/13, 9/11/13, 9/26/13, 10/2/13, 10/3/2013, 11/8/13, 11/22/13, 12/17/13, 12/26/13, 12/27/13,1/16/14, 1/17/14, 1/23/14, 1/31/14, 2/13/14, 2/14/14, 2/21/14, 2/28/14, 3/8/14, 3/20/14, 4/4/14 or 4/25/14.
