Mislabeled Tamales Prompts Massive Recall

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco-based pasta company on Thursday began pulling thousands of pounds of its frozen meat and poultry tamale products from stores because they contain an allergen that is not listed on the label.

Homestead Pasta Company is recalling approximately 144,633 pounds of the frozen meat and poultry products because they contain the undeclared allergen whey, the United States Department of Agriculture announced Thursday.

Whey is a known dairy allergen, the USDA said.

The products were produced from April 2010 until January 2011 and shipped for retail sales in California, Oregon and Washington and for institutional use in California.

The recall includes products sold in cases under the names of Garibaldi Beef Tamale, Garibaldi Turkey Tamale, Golden West Traditional Beef Tamale With Sauce in Husk, Golden West Traditional Turkey Tamale With Sauce in Husk, Casper Homestead Pasta Company Beef Tamale and Casper Homestead Pasta Company Chicken Tamale.

Individual packages within the cases are marked with the establishment number "P-4994" or "EST. 4994" inside the USDA mark of inspection, the USDA said.

The problem was discovered during a label review. No reports of adverse reactions from the consumption of the products has been reported, according to the USDA.

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