Nearly 9 million pounds of meat products has been recalled by a California company that processed "diseased and unsound animals," according to federal regulators.
The meat from the Rancho Feeding Corp. of Petaluma, Calif., was processed without proper inspections and was considered unfit for human consumption, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said Saturday on its website.
The agency's notice classified the health risk as high, but said it had received no reports of illness. It did not specify what diseases might be involved.
The recall is a dramatic expansion of a recall notice issued Jan. 13 for nearly 42,000 pounds of meat produced by the company. The USDA said then that the recall was issued because the items did not have full federal inspection and were considered unfit for consumption.
The notice Saturday listed a variety of beef products, including carcasses, heads, cheeks, lips, tongues, bones and feet, along with beef blood, "Mountain Oysters" and "Sweet Breads."
The items were produced from Jan. 1, 2013 through Jan. 7 of this year and sent to distribution and retail centers in California, Florida and Texas, the notice said.
The recall listed beef carcasses and boxes with the establishment number "EST.527" in the USDA inspection mark, the agency said. In addition, the boxes carry a case code number ending in "3" or "4." The recall said distribution lists would be posted at www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls.
A call to a number listed by the agency for the plant's quality control manager was not answered Saturday night, and a voice mail request to the Food Safety and Inspection Service was not immediately returned.