Check Your Fridge: 1.5 Million Pounds of Meat Recalled Nationwide — and a Georgia Distributor Is at the Center of Another
By The BeltLine News | October 25, 2026
Atlanta shoppers, check your fridge before your next meal. Three separate meat recalls have landed in recent weeks, covering beef, pork, poultry, and goat — and one of them runs straight through a Georgia distributor.
Here's what you need to know, what to look for, and what to do.
The big one: 1.5 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat recalled nationwide
Kayem Foods Inc. has recalled more than 1.5 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef, pork, and poultry products, including hot dogs, bacon, sausages, ham, and deli meats.
The products were produced between March 31, 2026, and October 7, 2026, and stored and shipped between June 7 and October 14, 2026. They went to retail stores, deli counters, and foodservice locations across the country, under nine brand names: Al Fresco, Deutschmacher, Essem, Genoa, Jordan's, Kayem, McKenzie, Triple M, and Winnisimmet.
Why: A cooling system malfunction at one of the company's warehouses caused storage temperature deviations — what regulators call temperature abuse. Food stored at unsafe temperatures can grow bacteria that cooking may not fix, and these are ready-to-eat products, meaning most people eat them straight from the package.
How to spot them: Look inside the USDA mark of inspection on the packaging for one of these establishment numbers: EST. M/P 7839, EST. P 20935A, or EST. M 9520. The USDA has published a full product list with UPC codes, lot numbers, and expiration dates, plus photos of the labels.
Risk level: The USDA assigned this recall its highest-risk classification, Class I, meaning there is a reasonable probability that eating the affected products could cause serious health consequences or death.
Kayem CEO Matt Monkiewicz said the company undertook the recall "out of an abundance of caution," apologized to consumers, and said the company takes full responsibility.
The Georgia connection: 167,639 pounds of raw meat, and the label may be hidden
This is the one Atlanta families should pay closest attention to.
In late September, Star Meat Delivery Inc. of Lucama, North Carolina, recalled approximately 167,639 pounds of raw beef, pork, and goat products that were produced without the benefit of federal inspection and carried a false USDA mark of inspection.
The products — 23 items in all — were shipped to A&D Foods, a distributor in Duluth, Georgia, which then sent them to retail stores and restaurants nationwide. The items include sliced ribeye, thin-sliced beef chuck, oxtail, beef short ribs, beef shanks, beef feet, ground pork, pork chorizo, bone-in pork chops, pork feet, pork rib pieces, pork Boston butt, pork hocks, and a 30-pound "Menudo Mix."
The catch: The recalled items carry the false establishment number "EST. 1363," but you may not see it. Individual packages at small stores may have been repackaged with the store's own pricing and safe-handling stickers, covering the original label. A&D Foods' retail customers are mostly small grocery stores and delis, not national chains — so if you buy meat from a small grocery, carniceria, or deli, the store itself is your best source of answers. Ask whether it buys from A&D Foods.
No confirmed reports of illness or injury have been linked to these products, but federal officials say food produced without inspection may contain undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria, or other contaminants, and the products should be considered unsafe to eat.
The latest: beef jerky recalled for missing inspection, illegal USDA seal
On October 24, 2026, Imperio Distribution LLC of Elgin, Illinois, recalled 946 pounds of ready-to-eat beef jerky produced without federal inspection and misbranded with the unauthorized use of another facility's USDA mark of inspection (establishment number "1885").
The recalled 2 oz. sealed bags: IMPERIO FUEGO BEEF JERKY (CARNE SECA), IMPERIO ORIGINAL BEEF JERKY (CARNE SECA), and IMPERIO LIMÓN BEEF JERKY (CARNE SECA).
These were distributed to retail locations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin — not Georgia — but it's a reminder to check jerky and snack meats too. No confirmed reports of illness or injury have been linked to this recall.
What to do if you have any of these products
1. Don't eat them. Throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.
2. Check the label. Match the brand, product name, establishment number, UPC, lot number, and expiration date against the USDA's recall lists — don't rely on memory.
3. Ask your store. Especially for the Georgia-distributor recall: if you bought raw cuts from a small grocery or deli, ask whether it carries A&D Foods products.
4. If you feel sick, contact a healthcare provider. For questions about meat, poultry, or egg products, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854).
5. Check before you shop. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service posts every recall, with label photos, at fsis.usda.gov.
The bottom line for Atlanta
Two of these recalls are about meat that never got the federal inspection it's supposed to get. One is about meat that did get inspected but was stored at the wrong temperature. Either way, the fix for your family is the same: check the label, check the store, and when in doubt, throw it out.
The BeltLine News will keep following this story. If you find one of these products in an Atlanta store, let us know.
The BeltLine News | thebeltlinenews.net | @thebeltlinenews | 404-338-9745