Newswanger Meats of Shiloh, OH announces an expansion of a voluntary recall of approximately 450,000 pounds of fresh and frozen beef, pork, lamb, chicken, venison, rabbit, various dried meat snacks, and deli products that were possibly produced under insanitary conditions.

Newswanger Meats has determined that these products were produced with the use of a water supply that failed to meet the Ohio Department of Health’s requirements in the Ohio Administrative Code for an approved private water system. There have been no reports of illness involving products addressed in this recall.

The products subject to the expanded recall include beef, pork, lamb, chicken, venison, rabbit, various dried meat snacks, and deli meats. The products were produced between November 7, 2016-October 4, 2017. The inspected products bear the establishment number EST. 151 inside the Ohio mark of inspection; voluntarily inspected products bear the establishment number EST. 151 inside the triangle legend; and custom prepared products are marked not for sale. Meat and poultry items were sold to a number of outlets throughout Ohio and at the retail store at Newswanger Meats. Voluntarily inspected venison products were sold in both Ohio and West Virginia. Just adjacent to or in close proximity to any side of the mark of inspection, products contain a lot code beginning with 16L, 16K, or 17 followed by any three or four digits.

The problem was discovered by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) Division of Meat Inspection through a review of Newswanger Meats testing records. Records indicate that the company’s last water sample was taken in November 2016 which tested negative. Without a more recent negative test, the company’s water system is considered a non-potable water supply, which could result in the creation of insanitary conditions and potential direct product contamination leading to adulteration of the products processed in the facility during this time period.

ODA and the company have received no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The Plain Dealer reports that the initial recall, announced on October 6, stemmed from the presence of coliform bacteria in some tested products. E. coli, a more dangerous form of the bacteria, was not detected.

A spokesperson for the Ohio Depart of Agriculture stated that the company was using a pond as a water source, which is not an approved source. Galen Newswanger, manager of the company, says that the company was never notified by officials that the pond was not an approved source of water.

Newswanger told The Plain Dealer last week that the 2017 water test was taken at a bathroom faucet, not at a source of water for production. He had a certified lab test the water in the production area; he said it showed no signs of coliform. 

Source: Ohio Department of Agriculture, The Plain Dealer