USDA Recalls 167,639 Pounds of Meat With Fake Labels

Star Meat Delivery is recalling 167,639 pounds of pork, beef and goat that carried a false USDA inspection mark, in the agency's highest-risk class I category.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says Star Meat Delivery Inc., based in Lucama, North Carolina, is recalling 167,639 pounds of raw pork, beef and goat products that were produced without federal inspection yet bore labels carrying a false USDA mark of inspection. The items were distributed under the A&D Foods label, shipped in bulk to A&D Foods, a Georgia distributor, and then sent on to retailers and restaurants nationwide. The products, produced on various dates before September 22, 2026, were vacuum-sealed and packed into cardboard boxes, and span 23 items including slice ribeye, beef oxtail, beef short ribs, goat cuts, ground pork, chorizo and menudo mix. The problem was discovered during a routine food safety inspection, and the agency says it may add products to the recall as its review continues.

Federal law requires all commercially sold meat to be inspected and passed by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service so it is safe, wholesome and properly labeled, CNN explains. The establishment number on the recalled packages, 'EST. 1363,' does not have a federal grant of inspection, which the agency says makes the products misbranded and unsafe to eat. FSIS warns that meat produced without inspection may contain undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria or other contaminants that put consumer health and safety at risk. The recall has been classified as class I, the USDA's most serious designation, described as a situation where there is a reasonable probability that using the product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

Here is the part that makes this recall especially tricky for home cooks and restaurant kitchens: the telltale 'EST. 1363' marking may not appear on what shoppers actually picked up. According to CNN, some packaging might not show the false label because shops applied their own stickers with pricing and safe-handling instructions. WCVB reports the products may have been repackaged by retailers and could carry store-applied stickers instead of the original product label.

As of the USDA's Tuesday announcement, there have been no confirmed reports of illness or injury linked to these products, an agency point repeated by CNN, WCVB and WCTI. The USDA advises anyone with health concerns to contact their healthcare provider. The stakes remain high precisely because the risk is unverified rather than absent: meat that never went through federal inspection has no assurance of being safe, wholesome or properly labeled, and class I status reflects the agency's assessment of what could happen, not what has. The Food Safety and Inspection Service is continuing to review the products, and WCTI reports the agency will post a retail distribution list when it becomes available, which would finally tell shoppers which stores received the meat.

The USDA's guidance is blunt: consumers who purchased these products are urged not to consume them, and the items should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase. Retailers and restaurants are likewise urged not to sell or serve them. The agency has published a full list of affected products and label images online, and shoppers and kitchen staff are told to watch for the false 'EST. 1363' establishment number on A&D Foods-branded packaging — everything from pork hock slices and beef feet cut to 30-pound boxes of menudo mix. The Times of India reports that questions about the recall can be directed to Star Meat Delivery's media office, while CNN says it reached out to Star Meat Delivery and A&D Foods for comment.

WCTI reports the company had not responded to its questions about why the products carried false USDA markings, how the markings got there, or what the company plans to do to prevent a repeat. The recall is a reminder of why inspection marks matter to small-town butchers: WCTI spoke with Bridget Mejia, manager of Sumrell's Country Sausage in nearby Ayden, who said her locally sourced shop checks dates and meat before it comes off the truck, saying that if she would not eat it herself, she will not serve it to customers. FSIS's review continues, and the recall could grow.