Health
Kayem meat recall: the brands, label codes and dates to check before you eat
The recall covers selected fully cooked meat and poultry products across several brands. Match the exact item and BEST BEFORE quality-date range; the company name alone is not enough.
What to know
- USDA announced a Class I recall on October 17 involving approximately 1,584,361 pounds of ready-to-eat products.
- The official affected-item list includes selected Kayem, Al Fresco, McKenzie and other products; it is not a recall of everything sold under those brands.
- Check the item description, package size, UPC and BEST BEFORE quality date against the complete company list.
- Do not eat a recalled product. USDA says to discard it or return it to the place of purchase.
Kayem Foods is recalling about 1.58 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry after a warehouse cooling problem raised concerns about storage temperatures. For shoppers, the useful next step is a careful label check: the affected products were sold under several brands, and the official list identifies specific items, UPC numbers and BEST BEFORE quality dates.
Why the products were recalled
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service notice says the company investigated a complaint about warm products delivered to a retailer on October 1. Investigators found temperature deviations in a warehouse cooler. The notice reported no confirmed illnesses associated with eating the products.
Kayem's October 16 statement describes a cooling-system malfunction and says the company corrected the problem. That assurance does not cancel the recall or replace the instruction to avoid affected food already at home.
The two notices describe different stages of the supply chain. USDA gives an approximate production period of March 31 through October 7. Kayem describes products stored and shipped between June 7 and October 14. Neither period is a substitute for the package-specific list.
Which brands and labels should you check?
The complete two-page Kayem affected-SKU list includes selected items labeled Kayem, Al Fresco, McKenzie, Triple M, Genoa, Deutschmacher, Jordan's, Essem and Winnisimmet. Product types include frankfurters, cooked chicken sausages, deli meats, bacon, hams and meatballs.
Examples illustrate why matching dates matters. The list identifies 14-ounce Kayem Fenway Franks with UPC 003077101114 and a BEST BEFORE quality-date range of October 22–29, 2026. It also identifies 11-ounce Al Fresco Sweet Apple Fully Cooked Chicken Sausage, UPC 003077102637, with a BEST BEFORE quality-date range of July 22–December 25, 2026. These are examples, not the entire recall. BEST BEFORE is a quality-date marking, not a safety-expiry date. That distinction does not make a recalled product safe to eat: the do-not-eat and discard-or-return instructions still apply.
The list includes foodservice items and differently sized packages as well as familiar grocery products. Copy the numbers directly from your own label, preserving leading zeros, and compare every field with the official document. Do not assume that another package of the same brand is affected—or safe—based only on the name.
USDA also identifies establishment marks EST. M/P 7839, EST. P 20935A and EST. M 9520. The agency says the products went to retail and foodservice locations nationwide and in Hong Kong. Its notice did not provide a complete retailer-by-retailer distribution list.
What to do if your package is listed
Set the recalled food aside so it will not be eaten, then follow USDA's disposal-or-return instruction. If a label is missing or the match is unclear, ask Kayem customer service at 800-426-6100. The company lists weekday service hours of 7:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Eastern.
Anyone worried about illness should contact a healthcare provider, USDA advises. Keep checking the official recall page for changes rather than relying on a partial product list circulating on social media.
Photograph and reuse notes
Illustrative archive photograph of a household refrigerator, June 3, 2014. It does not show any recalled product. Photo: matthew098 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. The website photograph is resized/compressed with responsive display cropping. Social adaptations add a crop, contrast gradient, NewsCubby branding and translated headline. The photograph and adapted cards retain CC BY-SA 3.0; no additional restrictions are imposed. Original photograph and rights record; license.
