The A&D Foods meat recall covers about 167,639 pounds of raw pork, beef, and goat products from Star Meat Delivery, Inc. of Lucama, North Carolina, pulled September 23, 2026, after FSIS found the meat bore a false USDA inspection mark and was produced without federal inspection. No illnesses have been reported, and FSIS classified the recall Class I.
What FSIS Announced
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that Star Meat Delivery, Inc., a Lucama, North Carolina meat processor, is recalling approximately 167,639 pounds of raw pork, beef, and goat products. FSIS says the products were produced without the benefit of federal inspection and carried a fabricated establishment number, “EST. 1363,” making the uninspected meat appear to have passed required federal safety checks.
The affected products were produced on multiple dates through September 22, 2026, and were shipped in bulk to A&D Foods, a Georgia-based distributor, for retail and restaurant distribution nationwide. FSIS says the issue was discovered during ongoing agency surveillance activities, and the agency has classified the recall as Class I — its highest-risk category, reserved for situations where there is a reasonable probability that use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.
According to FSIS, meat produced without federal inspection has not been verified for the presence of undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria, or other contaminants, since it bypassed the inspection steps designed to catch those hazards. FSIS states it has not confirmed any illnesses linked to the recalled products.
The recalled items were sold under the A&D Foods label in bulk packaging rather than individual retail cuts, and include a wide range of pork, beef, and goat products such as ground pork, chorizo, pork chops, pork feet, pork ribs, Boston butt, pork hock, menudo mix, sliced beef ribeye, thin-sliced beef chuck, beef oxtail, beef short ribs, beef shanks, and various goat cuts, in package sizes generally ranging from 10 to 30 pounds. All of the affected products bear the fake “EST. 1363” mark of inspection.
Because the recall covers bulk food-service and wholesale packaging rather than standard retail bags with UPC codes, FSIS is asking restaurants, retailers, and consumers who received these products to check for the “EST. 1363” mark and the A&D Foods label rather than rely on a single product name or barcode. Anyone with recalled product should not serve or consume it, and should throw it away or return it to the place of purchase. Anyone with symptoms of concern after eating recalled product is advised to contact a healthcare provider.
This is the second FSIS meat recall recipesncooking.com has covered this year involving USDA-inspected supply chains, following the Prime Line Distributors and Ferrarini USA guanciale recall over Listeria contamination. Unlike that recall, this one does not involve a pathogen found in testing — it involves meat that was never inspected at all.
Is This Common?
Recalls over undeclared allergens or bacterial contamination such as Listeria or Salmonella are far more common than recalls triggered by fraudulent USDA inspection marks. FSIS periodically takes action against meat processors operating outside the federal inspection system, but a recall of this size — nearly 84 tons of product bearing a fabricated establishment number — is a less frequent occurrence than an ordinary allergen or pathogen recall. Because the underlying risk (an unverified, uninspected product) is different from a confirmed contamination event, FSIS classifies these recalls based on the reasonable probability of harm from bypassing inspection, not on a specific pathogen or allergen finding.
Quick Answers
Should I throw out this product?
Yes. FSIS advises anyone with A&D Foods pork, beef, or goat products bearing the “EST. 1363” mark to not consume them and to either throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.
Has anyone gotten sick?
No. FSIS has not confirmed any illnesses linked to these products as of the recall announcement.
How do I know if my product is affected?
Check the packaging for the A&D Foods brand name and the establishment number “EST. 1363.” Because these were bulk food-service and wholesale packages rather than individually barcoded retail items, restaurants and retailers that received A&D Foods pork, beef, or goat products through September 22, 2026 should assume they may be affected.
Sources
Update Log
- September 23, 2026: Article published following FSIS’s announcement of the Star Meat Delivery/A&D Foods recall.
