Nearly Nine Million Pounds of Beef Recalled

Online, February 10, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Northern California meat packing concern, Rancho Feeding Company, has issued a recall of nearly nine million pounds of beef products. The recall is the result of the company processing animals deemed unhealthy and even diseased without a proper federal inspection. The recall accounts for more than a year's worth of meat products when weighed against the company's processing rates. The USDA said that the recalled products cannot be deemed fit fro human consumption if they are not subjected to a full inspection.

The products in question were processed between Jan. 1, 2013, and Jan. 7, 2014. They were shipped to distribution centers and to retailers and grocers in the states of California, Texas, Illinois and Florida. The affected products include a number of cuts, many of which are not table-ready and would be used in a variety of processing and rendering operations. The full list, which appears below, was provided by the USDA.

"Beef Carcasses" (wholesale & custom)
2 per box "Beef (Market) Heads" (retail)
4-gallons per box "Beef Blood" (wholesale)
20-lb. boxes of "Beef Oxtail"
30-lb. boxes of "Beef Cheeks"
30-lb. boxes of " Beef Lips"
30-lb. boxes of "Beef Omasum"
30-lb. boxes of "Beef Tripas"
30-lb. boxes of "Mountain Oysters"
30-lb. boxes of "Sweet Breads"
30- and 60-lb. boxes of "Beef Liver"
30- and 60-lb. boxes of "Beef Tripe"
30- and 60-lb. boxes of "Beef Tongue"
30- and 60-lb. boxes of "Veal Cuts"
40-lb. boxes of "Veal Bones"
50-lb. boxes of "Beef Feet"
50-lb. boxes of "Beef Hearts"
60-lb. boxes of "Veal Trim"
(source: United States Department of Agriculture)

The company recalled over 40,000 pounds of meat products in January 2014 alone. According to the USDA, that was the amount of meat produced on a specific day, Jan. 8, that also did not undergo a proper inspection.

The company has not responded to media inquiries.

As of now, there have been no reports of illness related to products affected by this recall. Some of the products are likely still being held in frozen storage owing to the long expanse of time covered by the recall.

"This is the kind of recall that gets fast media attention owing to its enormity and the sheer degree of waste," commented Drazen Alcocer, founder and CEO of iFederated, parent company of iRecalls.com.

"What makes it even more significant is the small number of states to which these products were originally shipped," added Artin Afsharjavan, Chairman of iFederated. "When you consider that this meat was only supposed to feed a small amount of the country, it makes it all the more clear that a site like iRecalls is necessary. Whenever a recall like this happens, a dedicated resource like ours is vital to keeping the public informed and informing people quickly."

iRecalls.com is made up of a group of informed consumers that is dedicated to the timely circulation of information about recalls like the one for Rancho Feeding Company. Interested citizens are encouraged to create a free account and utilize this unique and important online resource.

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