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Tuesday, October 20, 2026

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Safety · Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Kayem recalls 1.6 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat that may have warmed in storage

The File desk · Oct. 20, 2026, 7:49 a.m. ET

Confirmed1 primary sourcesAdded 7:49 a.m. ET, Oct. 20

Status

Confirmed. Everything here is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service recall notice of Oct. 17, which the service rates High, Class I.
  • Confirmed
    Kayem Foods Inc. of Chelsea, Mass., is recalling about 1,584,361 pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products because they may have been stored at unsafe temperatures (FSIS, Oct. 17).
  • Confirmed
    The products were made from about March 31 to Oct. 7, 2026, carry establishment number EST. M/P 7839, EST. P 20935A or EST. M 9520 inside the USDA mark of inspection, and were shipped to retail and food-service locations nationwide and to Hong Kong.
  • Confirmed
    There have been no confirmed reports of illness. The service says some products may be in consumers' refrigerators and should be thrown away or returned.
Kayem Foods, a meat maker in Chelsea, Massachusetts, is recalling about 1.6 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry that may have sat in a warehouse cooler that ran too warm, the U.S. Agriculture Department's food safety service said.1 The products went to stores and food-service kitchens across the country. No one has been confirmed sick.
The problem came to light on Oct. 1, when a retail customer complained that products arrived warm. The company traced it to a warehouse cooler whose temperature had drifted, the service said.1
The service rates the recall Class I, its most serious level, and says it is concerned that some of the meat is still in home refrigerators. Its advice is not to eat it: throw it away or take it back to the store.1
Questions go to the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-674-6854, or to Kayem's customer service at 800-426-6100 on weekdays.1
Why it matters (Estimate). Ready-to-eat meat is eaten as it comes, without cooking, so there is no last step to kill germs that can grow when food is kept too warm. No one has been reported sick. But the recall covers six months of products shipped across the country, so some may still be sitting in home refrigerators, which is the federal service's stated concern.
The recalled products were made over about six months, from late March to Oct. 7. To check a package, look inside the round USDA inspection mark for one of three numbers: EST. M/P 7839, EST. P 20935A or EST. M 9520.1
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, "Kayem Foods Inc. Recalls Meat and Poultry Products Due to Possible Temperature Abuse," Recall 026-2026, Oct. 17, 2026: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/kayem-foods-inc--recalls-meat-and-poultry-products-due-possible-temperature-abuse . Full product list with UPC codes: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/documents/Recall_026-2026-productlist.pdf ; product labels: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/food_label_pdf/2026-10/Recall_026-2026-product-labels.pdf
  2. 2.Notes. The recall was announced Saturday, Oct. 17, before this desk's 24-hour window; it runs today because it drew national news coverage on Monday and The File had not yet reported it. This desk could not open the product-list file from its server, so the story names no individual products or brands; check the list linked above.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • Which stores sold the products. The service says it will post retail distribution lists when they are available.
  • Whether anyone has become ill. There are no confirmed reports.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Kayem Foods Inc. Recalls Meat and Poultry Products Due to Possible Temperature Abuse

    U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service · October 17, 2026

    High - Class I ... Kayem Foods Inc., a Chelsea, Mass. establishment, is recalling approximately 1,584,361 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products because they may have experienced temperature abuse during storage ... The RTE meat and poultry products items were produced approximately March 31, 2026, to Oct. 7, 2026. ... These items were shipped to retail and foodservice locations Nationwide and Hong Kong. The problem was discovered after the firm received a retail customer complaint regarding warm product temperatures at point of delivery on October 1, 2026. ... There have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of these products. ... FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers' refrigerators.

    https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/kayem-foods-inc--recalls-meat-and-poultry-products-due-possible-temperature-abuse

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