New Jersey Company Recalls All Beef Franks Fearing Listeria

October 28, 1999

Marathon Enterprises, Inc., East Rutherford, NJ, is recalling voluntarily all its skinless beef frankfurters produced at one of its three plants. The products were distributed nationwide.

The action announced is an expansion of an earlier recall of these products. On Oct. 13, the firm began voluntarily recalling about 52,000 pounds of franks suspected of being contaminated with listeria. Subsequent testing by the company of product from other production dates prompted the recall expansion.

After samples collected and analyzed by the company returned positive results, Marathon initiated recall actions and immediately notified USDA's Food Safety and inspection Serivce. The plant involved, located in the Bronx, closed voluntarily Oct. 14. No additional product has been produced at or shipped from the plant since then.

All 16-ounce and five-pound packages of "Sabrett" brand skinless beef frankfurters and "Western Beef" brand skinless beef franks with EST 8854 inside the USDA seal of inspection are being recalled.