Mozzarella Bites distributed under the following labels: Farm Rich Cheese In a Pizzeria…
Rich Products Corp recalled this product and the FDA reported the enforcement action on 8 May 2013 as Class I. The recall was initiated by the firm. Products potentially contaminated with E. coli O121.
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
- Mozzarella Bites distributed under the following labels: Farm Rich Cheese In a Pizzeria Style Crust, Product Code 36450 Net Wt. 22-oz bag-UPC Code 0 41322 37443 1; Product Code 37443 Net Wt. 22-oz bag-UPC Code 0 41322 37443 1; Product Code 37433 Net Wt. 22-oz bag-UPC Code 0 41322 37813 2; Product Code 37691 Net Wt. 7-oz cartons-UPC Code 0 41322 37691 6; Product Code 32521 and 32522; Net Wt. 44-oz cartons-UPC 0 41322 32521 1; Product Code 37455 Net Wt. 2 lb. cartons-UPC Code 0 41322 37455 4, Market Day, Net Wt.. 22-oz cartons-UPC Code 0 41322 80435 8, Product Code 80435; Schwan's Baked Mozzarella Bites Net Wt.. 22 oz bags- UPC Code 0 72180 61008 9, Product Code 61008, the production date range for these products is 3G1182XXXX - 3G3088XXXX.
- UPC
- 041322325211
- Reason for recall
- Products potentially contaminated with E. coli O121.
- Recalling firm
- Rich Products Corp
- Firm location
- Buffalo, New York, United States
- Classification
- Class I
- Status
- Terminated
- Recall number
- F-1367-2013
- Quantity
- 820,577 cases
- Distribution
- Nationwide
- Initiated
- 28 March 2013
- Reported by FDA
- 8 May 2013
- Terminated
- 22 May 2018
- Firm notified by
- Two or more of the following: Email, Fax, Letter, Press Release, Telephone, Visit
- Product codes
- Julian Dates 15821182 to 15823088; Best By Dates January 1, 2013 - September 29, 2013
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 is one of 4 records covering the same recall event. The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so a recall of a product line appears here many times. Counting these records as 4 separate recalls, which almost every published figure does, overstates it by a factor of 4. All 4 of them are listed on this page.
- The recall ran for 5.1 years, from 28 March 2013 to termination on 22 May 2018. 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 FDA published the enforcement report 6 weeks after the firm began the recall.
- Recalls of cheese run a median of 7 months, so this one was longer than usual for its category. Cheese dominates Listeria recalls among dairy products because soft and semi-soft varieties hold enough moisture for the organism to grow at refrigeration temperature, and because most are eaten without any further cooking step.
What this recall was for
E. coli
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli recalls concentrate in foods eaten raw or lightly cooked, where no step in the process is hot enough or long enough to be a kill step.
A preventive controls plan covers E. coli 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)(1)
- Process controls: the controls that apply a treatment, such as a validated kill step, at the point where it reduces the hazard to a safe level.
- 21 CFR 117 subpart G
- Supply-chain programme: the approval and verification a receiving facility runs on a supplier when the hazard is controlled before the ingredient arrives.
- 21 CFR 120
- Juice HACCP: the hazard analysis and critical control point system required for juice processors, including a treatment achieving a 5-log pathogen reduction.
Filed under cheese. A product can sit in more than one.
Every product in this recall
The FDA opened 4 enforcement records for this one recall, one per product code. This page carries all of them; the 3 below each have their own page with that product’s lot codes and distribution, and search engines are pointed here for the recall as a whole.
| Reported | Product | Firm | Reason | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-05-08 | Farm Rich Better For You Pizza Dippers-Pizza Dough made with Whole Wheat Flour and Stuffed with Mozzarella Cheese and Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese, Net Wt. 27-LBS (10 X 2.7-LB), UPC Code 00041322652782, Product Code 65278. | Rich Products Corp | Products potentially contaminated with E. coli O121. | Class I |
| 2013-05-08 | Farm Rich Stuffed Crust Pizza Dippers-Pizza Dough Stuffed with Mozzarella Cheese, Net Wt. 27-LBS (10 X 2.7-LB), UPC Code 10041322652659, Product Code 65265; Net Wt. 25-LB (1 X 25-LB) UPC Code 10041322652680, Product Code 65268. | Rich Products Corp | Products potentially contaminated with E. coli O121. | Class I |
| 2013-05-08 | Farm Rich Better For You Pizza Dippers-Pizza Dough Stuffed with Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese, Net Wt 25-LBS (5 X 5-LB), UPC Code 10041322652338, Product Code 65233. | Rich Products Corp | Products potentially contaminated with E. coli O121. | Class I |
Other cheese 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 Rich Products Corp
The FDA opens one enforcement record per product code, so several of these are frequently one recall event. 21 other records name this firm.
All 22 records for Rich Products Corp
All 2013 recalls · All FDA food recall data
21 CFR 117.135(c)(1) 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.