Rittberger Meats Announces Recall

A Zanesville meat processing company is announcing a recall Monday. Carl Rittberger Sr. Inc. is voluntarily recalling around 9-thousand pounds of fully cooked deli items due to possible contamination with Listeria.  The company says no illnesses have been reported.  The products involved in this recall include Spice Loaf, Breakfast Loaf, Garlic Bologna, German Brand bologna, wieners, Grillers, Kielbasa, Straight HB Roll and natural casing Wieners.  The company says packages of loaves of bologna weighing around 5 to 6 pounds intended for wholesale customers would bear the Ohio Department of Agriculture mark of inspection and “Est 13” and have code dates of 26 and 27. These products would have been purchased by wholesale customers after June 25, 2012 through July 6th of 2012.  Retail packages of Wieners, Natural Casing Wieners, Grillers, Straight HB Roll and Kielbasa would bear the Ohio Department of Agriculture mark of inspection and “EST 13” and would have been purchased after June 25th of 2012.  If you feel you purchased product involved in this recall from local retailers, please contact Rittberger’s for confirmation.  The Ohio Department of Agriculture says routine meat inspection rendered a positive test result for Listeria of deli product.  The product that was positive never left the plant.  Consumption of food with Listeria can cause Listeriosis , an uncommon but potentially fatal disease.  Healthy people rarely contract listeriosis.  It can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nauseas.  Rittberger is requesting all wholesale customers to pull any inventory from their shelves.  Retails customers may return product to point of purchase.