Lean Cuisine: Did emergency button spark recall?
狈别蝉迟濒茅 is recalling a small amount of Lean Cuisine food because pieces of red plastic were found inside packages by five consumers.
The red plastic appears to be from an emergency stop button, the company says. And that鈥檚 something of a mystery, because Nestle鈥檚 plant in Gaffney, S.C., which produced the recalled packages, had no reports of a broken button. Also, the plant was designed so that no emergency-stop button would be near areas where food was in transit.
鈥淲e鈥檙e continuing our investigation,鈥� says Roz O鈥橦earn, a spokeswoman at 狈别蝉迟濒茅 USA in Solon, Ohio. 鈥淚f it were an emergency stop button, we've got about half of it.鈥�
That is why 狈别蝉迟濒茅 is recalling an hour鈥檚 worth of production of its Lean Cuisine Simple Favorites Spaghetti with Meatballs and urging consumers to check their freezers.
Here鈥檚 what to look for: First check the UPC (the bar code) number to make sure it鈥檚 the right product: PC 13800-10390. Then look for the production code, which is printed on the gray 鈥減roof of purchase鈥� panel on the right end flap of the package, just below the ingredients statement.
All 17,280 recalled packages will have this production code: 0298595519 P. It must include the P, which denotes the hour that it was made. So far, the pieces have been reported by consumers in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
If you have a recalled package, call the company at (866) 606-8264 or e-mail it at leancuisine@casupport.com . 狈别蝉迟濒茅 says it will provide a replacement coupon for consumers. If there are plastic parts in the food, 狈别蝉迟濒茅 may make arrangements to retrieve it to help in the investigation.
The company says it believes the contamination occurred within the span of a few minutes, but that it鈥檚 recalling the entire hour of production 鈥渙ut of an abundance of caution.鈥� The company now can pinpoint Lean Cuisine packages down to the minute when they were produced.
狈别蝉迟濒茅 is contacting its suppliers to see if one of the Lean Cuisine ingredients shipments could have introduced the plastic into its plant.
