Over 35,000 Pounds Of Turkey Sausage Recalled After Reports Of Rubber Pieces
If you've recently purchased turkey kielbasa sausage, there's a chance a recent recall pertains to what's in your fridge or freezer. According to a March 7th announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), 35,430 pounds of Johnsonville Polish turkey kielbasa sausage have been recalled for potential contamination by foreign materials. The recall comes on the heels of customers reporting rubber pieces in the product, which was distributed to retailers nationwide.
The recall, issued by Salm Partners, LLC, an establishment based in Denmark, Wisconsin, covers ready-to-eat turkey kielbasa sausages produced between October 30 and 31, 2023. The vacuum-packed product bears a label of Johnsonville POLISH TURKEY KIELBASA, containing a single piece of the large sausage, with a stated weight of 12 ounces. For retail consumers, the "Best By" dates of May 17, 2024, or May 18, 2024, appear on the bottom front of the package, with a printed establishment number of P-32009 in the same location.
No recall-related injuries or illnesses have been reported as of this writing, though concerns remain over the safety of consumers who have the sausages in their homes. The product should not be eaten, and buyers are urged to toss them out or return them to the place of purchase. Consumers should inform a healthcare professional if they think they have eaten the product and possibly compromised their health. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Johnsonville has encountered a contamination-related recall.
Johnsonville sausages and prior recalls
Now one of America's most well-known sausage brands, Johnsonville began in 1945 as a small butcher shop in its namesake Wisconsin town. During the 1980s, it expanded to 47 U.S. states, and by 2022, the privately owned company was selling sausages in at least 45 countries. That's a lot of sausages on dinner and breakfast plates, with 10 product lines, including links, patties, ground sausage, smoked rope sausages, and ones created especially for grilling. With that many products, it's unsurprising that Johnsonville has been down the recall road before.
Less than a year before this current turkey kielbasa sausage fiasco, the company was forced to recall 42,000 pounds of Johnsonville "Beddar with Cheddar" smoked sausage links due to the discovery of thin strands of black plastic fibers reported by one customer. Other contamination problems and subsequent recalls occurred in 2012 and 2019, springing from a small number of customer complaints regarding the discovery of glove fragments and hard green plastic materials, respectively. In all instances, there were no initial reports of adverse reactions. For the current recall of Johnsonville Polish Turkey Kielbasa, anyone with questions can contact Stephanie Schafer, Global Corporate Communications for Johnsonville, at 888-556-2728 or sschafer@johnsonville.com.