Frozen and fresh RTE Lobster meat (1 lb. packages to 12 lb. case) 1. Greenhead Lobster…
Greenhead Lobster Products LLC recalled this product and the FDA reported the enforcement action on 15 November 2023 as Class I. The recall was initiated by the firm. Lobster meat may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
The record
Every field below is published by the FDA in the openFDA food enforcement database. Check the FDA notice before acting on any recall: this page is a reading of the public record, not a substitute for it.
- Product
- Frozen and fresh RTE Lobster meat (1 lb. packages to 12 lb. case) 1. Greenhead Lobster HPP Fresh Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat GHL-CKF - Fresh - 1 lb. oxygen permeable bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. Styrofoam box 2. Greenhead Lobster Fresh Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat GHL-CKF -CK (2 lb) Fresh Cooked Meat - Non HPP - 2 lb. - oxygen permeable bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. styrofoam box 3. Greenhead Lobster HPP Fresh Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat GHL-CKF - CK (2 lb) Fresh HPP Cooked Meat - oxygen permeable bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. styrofoam box 4. Greenhead Lobster Frozen Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat GHL-CK - Frozen 1 lb Cooked CK Meat - freezer poly bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. cardboard box 5. Frozen Cooked Broken Lobster Meat - Frozen Broken Cooked Meat - freezer poly bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. cardboard box 6. Greenhead Lobster Frozen Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat GHL-CK - Frozen CK Cooked Meat -- 2lb - freezer poly bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. cardboard box 7. Frozen Cooked Lobster Tail Meat GHL-TAIL - Frozen Tail Cooked Meat - freezer poly bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. cardboard box 8. HPP Frozen Cooked Tail, Claw, and Knuckle Meat GHL-TCK - Frozen TCK Cooked Meat - freezer poly bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. cardboard box 9. Fresh Cooked Lobster Tail, Claw, and Knuckle Meat GHL-TCK - TCK (1 lb) Fresh HPP Cooked Meat - oxygen permeable bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. styrofoam box 10. Fresh Cooked Lobster Tail, Claw, and Knuckle Meat GHL-TCK - TCK (2 lb) Fresh HPP Cooked Meat - oxygen permeable bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. styrofoam box 11. Fresh Cooked Tail, Claw, and Knuckle Meat GHL-TCK-2# - TCK (2lb) Fresh NON-HPP Cooked Meat - oxygen permeable bag, master cased in a 12 lbs. styrofoam box
- Reason for recall
- Lobster meat may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
- Recalling firm
- Greenhead Lobster Products LLC
- Firm location
- Bucksport, Maine, United States
- Classification
- Class I
- Status
- Terminated
- Recall number
- F-0321-2024
- Quantity
- 222821.1 lbs. total
- Distribution
- AL,AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IA, IL, LA, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SD, TN, TX, VA, WY
- Initiated
- 9 October 2023
- Reported by FDA
- 15 November 2023
- Terminated
- 25 February 2026
- Firm notified by
- Product codes
- Manufactured on 05/09/2023 to 10/19/23
Reading this record
Five things about this record are not in the record itself, and each one changes how it should be read.
- Class I means the FDA judged a reasonable probability that the product would cause serious health consequences or death. The class is assigned by an agency health hazard evaluation under 21 CFR 7.41, not by the firm.
- The firm started this recall itself. Most FDA food recalls are voluntary, and a recall is a food safety plan working rather than failing. The circumstances in which the agency asks for one instead are set out in 21 CFR 7.45.
- This record is the only one the FDA opened for its recall event, so it covers a single product code.
- The recall ran for 2.4 years, from 9 October 2023 to termination on 25 February 2026. Termination means the agency judged that all reasonable effort had been made, under 21 CFR 7.55, and it says nothing about whether product remained in circulation.
- The distribution pattern names 28 states, and the FDA published the enforcement report 5 weeks after the firm began the recall.
- Recalls of fish or seafood run a median of 5 months, so this one was longer than usual for its category. Fish and fishery products are the one food category with their own HACCP regulation in the United States, 21 CFR part 123, because the hazards are species-specific: histamine in scombroid fish, ciguatera in reef fish, and Listeria in cold-smoked products.
Named in the distribution pattern: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming. Those pages count recalls by where the RECALLING FIRM sits, which is a different question from where this product went.
What this recall was for
Listeria monocytogenes
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that grows at refrigeration temperature, which is why it dominates recalls of ready-to-eat foods that are never cooked again before they are eaten.
A preventive controls plan covers Listeria contamination under the clauses below. This is where the control belongs, not a finding against any firm named on this page: a recall record states a reason, and most of these recalls were initiated by the firm itself.
- 21 CFR 117.135(c)(3)
- Sanitation controls: the controls on cleaning food-contact surfaces and on preventing cross-contact and cross-contamination from insanitary objects, people and equipment.
- 21 CFR 117.165(a)(3)
- Environmental monitoring: testing the processing environment for an environmental pathogen, required when a ready-to-eat food is exposed to the environment before packaging.
- 21 CFR 117.150
- Corrective actions: what a facility does when a preventive control was not properly implemented, including identifying and correcting the problem and evaluating the food for safety.
Filed under fish and seafood and meat and poultry. A product can sit in more than one.
Other fish and seafood recalls for the same reason
These are the closest records in the corpus: the same kind of food, recalled for a hazard this record also names. Unlike the firm’s own records below, they come from different companies, which is what makes them a pattern rather than a history.
Other records from Greenhead Lobster Products LLC
The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so several of these are frequently one recall event.
| Reported | Product | Firm | Reason | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-11-24 | Greenhead Lobster brand Frozen Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat - 2lbs; Greenhead Lobster brand Frozen Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat - 1lb; Greenhead Lobster brand Frozen Cooked Broken Meat - 2lbs; Greenhead Lobster brand Frozen Cooked Tail Meat - 2lbs; Greenhead Lobster brand Frozen Cooked Claw and Knuckle Meat - 10.3oz; Greenhead Lobster brand Frozen Cooked Scored Claws - 3lbs | Greenhead Lobster Products LLC | Products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. | Class I |
All 2023 recalls · All FDA food recall data
21 CFR 117.135(c)(3) is the clause behind this recall, and it is one somebody has to produce evidence for at their next audit. Krolda maps supplier documents to the clause they satisfy in FSSC 22000, IFS Food and 21 CFR 117, and routes the corrective action when the evidence is missing.
Early accessRecall records come from the openFDA food enforcement API, published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the public domain. Krolda adds the hazard classification and the clause mapping; neither is an FDA determination. Always check the FDA notice before acting on a recall.