Ball Park Hot Dogs Recalled

March 27, 2000

Ball Park Brands has voluntarily recalled about 34,500 pounds of hot dogs that may be contaminated with listeria. The hot dogs were distributed in 15 states from the Eastern Seaboard through the Great Plains.

The products subject to recall are one-pound packages of Ball Park Beef Franks and one-pound packages of Ball Park Franks that are made with beef, pork and turkey. Both products were packaged Jan. 25.

They were distributed to retail establishments and commissaries in Florida, Missouri, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Delaware, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has not received any reports of illness directly linked with consumption of the products.

Ball Park Franks are part of Sara Lee Corp. REUTERS reports Sara Lee believes the incident, the second such recall in 16 months, was on a smaller scale than the earlier incident in December 1998 that was linked to 21 deaths and more than 100 illnesses among consumers in 22 states.

Theresa Herlevsen, vice president of communications at Sara Lee, called the latest recall "a very different scenario." Last time, Sara Lee took out full-page advertisements in nearly 60 U.S. newspapers to apologize to its customers.