Check Your Freezer: Over 2,300 Pounds of Pork Breakfast Sausage Recalled
If you work in food service in California, Florida, Michigan, or Nevada — or if you've eaten breakfast sausage recently at a restaurant in those states — there's a recall worth knowing about.
Fontanini Foods LLC, based in McCook, Illinois and owned by Hormel Foods, is recalling approximately 2,320 pounds of raw frozen pork breakfast sausage links after the company received two customer complaints about clear, hard plastic found inside the product. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service classified it as a Class I recall — the highest risk level, meaning there's a reasonable probability that consuming the product could cause serious harm.
No injuries have been confirmed.
Which Products Are Affected
The recall covers one specific product: 10-pound cardboard box cases labeled "Fontanini PORK SAUSAGE LINKS" with "ITEM 393" printed on the box and "PACKED ON 06/23/2026" on the shipping label. The boxes also carry establishment number "EST. 6944" inside the USDA mark of inspection.
These products were produced on June 23, 2026, and shipped to distributors — not retail stores — in California, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada for use in restaurants and other food service establishments.
If you're a restaurant or food service operator in those states with this product in your freezer, stop using it immediately and don't serve it.
Why This Recall Matters Even If You're Just a Customer
The products were never sold at retail — you can't find them at a grocery store. But that doesn't mean consumers aren't at risk. These sausages were destined for restaurants, hotel breakfasts, catering operations, and institutional food service. If you've eaten breakfast sausage links at a restaurant in those four states recently, it's possible they came from this batch.
Most people won't know the difference, which is why the FSIS is specifically urging food service establishments and restaurants to check their freezers rather than relying on customers to flag the issue.
The Hidden Danger of Plastic in Food
Hard plastic fragments in food are classified as a physical hazard — a category that also includes bone fragments, metal pieces, and glass. Clear, hard plastic is particularly difficult to spot, especially in a cooked sausage where the visual and textural cues blend with the food itself.
The potential injuries from consuming hard plastic fragments include cuts and lacerations to the mouth, throat, and digestive tract. In severe cases, plastic fragments can cause internal injury, obstruction, or perforation of the GI tract — risks that are highest for children and elderly individuals with less robust swallowing reflexes.
Hard plastic contamination in a meat processing facility typically originates from machinery parts, plastic packaging components, or utensils that break or shed fragments during production. When a company receives two separate customer complaints about the same type of contaminant from the same production run, that's strong evidence the issue isn't random — it points to a systematic problem that occurred during the June 23 production run.
Fontanini Foods has not publicly disclosed the source of the contamination or what corrective measures have been implemented.
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