Fake USDA Inspection Mark: 167,639 Pounds of Meat Recalled

On September 22, 2026, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a nationwide Class I recall of 167,639 pounds of raw beef, pork, and goat products from Star Meat Delivery Inc. Regulators determined that the meat was processed without federal inspection and bore a false USDA mark of inspection with establishment number EST. 1363, which has no federal grant of inspection.

Key takeaways:

• On September 22, 2026, USDA FSIS issued a nationwide Class I recall for approximately 167,639 pounds of raw beef, pork, and goat from Star Meat Delivery Inc.
• The products were produced without federal inspection and bore a false USDA mark of inspection displaying "EST. 1363", an establishment number with no federal grant of inspection.
• Distributed under the A&D Foods label to a Georgia distributor and forwarded nationwide to restaurants and retailers, cuts include ribeye, oxtail, goat, chorizo, and menudo mix across 23 commercial product codes.
• Retail stores may have repackaged bulk meat under their own store labels, meaning consumer packages might not show the false establishment number.
• No illnesses have been confirmed, and FSIS warns that uninspected meats pose risks of undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria, and unknown contaminants.

What happened

On September 22, 2026, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service announced recall 022-2026, classified High - Class I. The regulatory action covers approximately 167,639 pounds of raw meat products sourced from Star Meat Delivery Inc., based in Lucama, North Carolina, as detailed in the official FSIS recall announcement.

FSIS says it discovered the problem during its surveillance activities.

Establishment number 1363 has no federal grant of inspection, and FSIS says any product bearing it should be considered misbranded and unsafe to eat.

What changed and what is the policy impact?

The immediate consequence of the action is the removal of 23 specific commercial raw meat items from retail and wholesale distribution chains across the country. Because these products were not federally inspected, their safety was never verified, as local reporting by the Cobb County Courier also notes.

Under FSIS statutory definitions, a Class I recall indicates a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death. The agency noted that because the products were uninspected, they may contain undeclared food allergens, pathogenic microorganisms, or other dangerous contaminants.

Federal inspection is what lets a plant print the USDA mark; meat that skips it has had no federal check of sanitation or processing.

Who is affected across retail and restaurant supply chains?

The recalled products were originally packaged in bulk cases bearing the brand name A&D Foods. Star Meat Delivery Inc. shipped the items to A&D Foods, a distributor located in Georgia, which subsequently distributed the lots to restaurants, wholesale operations, and grocery retailers nationwide, as documented by Good Housekeeping.

The 23 listed bulk items cover a wide variety of vacuum-sealed cuts. Regulators identified items including goat cuts, sliced ribeye, oxtail, beef short ribs, pork chorizo, pork feet, beef feet, and bulk menudo mix within the scope of the recall.

A significant complicating factor for consumer identification is the downstream supply chain. Because these bulk cases were delivered directly to commercial grocers and food service establishments, FSIS notes that retail stores may have applied their own stickers, so consumer packages may carry store labels rather than the original A&D Foods carton markings or the "EST. 1363" legend.

Restaurants received the products too, so FSIS is asking restaurants and retailers not to serve or sell them.

What it means for shoppers inspecting store labels?

For everyday grocery shoppers, identifying whether meat in a refrigerator or freezer is part of this recall requires close examination of packaging marks. Federally inspected meat carries a round USDA mark of inspection with the words "U.S. Inspected and Passed by Department of Agriculture" alongside an establishment number.

If you have purchased wholesale bulk cartons or labeled cuts showing establishment number "EST. 1363", FSIS advises that you do not consume them. Instead, throw it away or return it to the place of purchase.

For fresh cuts purchased from behind the meat counter or wrapped in clear store plastic, the inspection legend will rarely appear on the consumer sticker. Shoppers who purchased raw beef, pork, or goat cuts, particularly items like oxtail, short ribs, chorizo, or menudo mix, are encouraged to speak directly with their local meat department staff to verify the source facility.

For another recent recall where the label was the key, see Whole Foods Cheese Recall: The Egg Hiding Under 'Lysozyme', and for how allergens must be declared on packaged food, Food Allergen Labels Explained: 9 Allergens and Their Hidden Names.

The background

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), all commercial meat entering interstate commerce must undergo mandatory inspection by USDA FSIS inspectors. Every approved meat processing facility is assigned an individual establishment (EST) number.

Consumers and commercial buyers can cross-reference any establishment number against the publicly available FSIS Meat, Poultry and Egg Product Inspection Directory. When an unauthorized facility prints an establishment number onto product packaging without obtaining a grant of inspection, the product bypasses pathogen testing, sanitation verification, and mandatory allergen controls.

It is important to state what current evidence can and cannot establish: FSIS surveillance confirms the misuse of the inspection mark and the lack of regulatory inspection, but investigators have not reported confirmed illnesses, toxicological analyses, or biological laboratory testing proving specific contamination in individual distributed packages.

What to watch next

FSIS surveillance teams and local health officials continue to conduct recall effectiveness checks across retail, distribution, and restaurant channels nationwide. These checks verify that consignees have removed affected lots from their shelves, walk-in coolers, and freezers.

Consumers should check their home freezers carefully, as raw beef, pork, and goat cuts are frequently stored frozen for months after initial retail purchase. FSIS sometimes posts retail distribution lists for recalls; none had been posted for this recall at the time of writing.

If you want to look beyond surface branding and check what is inside packaged items, using dedicated verification tools helps clarify ingredient sourcing. Aurascan is a free food-label scanner app currently available in beta via iOS TestFlight, with a waitlist for other platforms. The app evaluates ingredients individually using cited scientific and regulatory evidence instead of assigning arbitrary numeric scores, drawing data from Open Food Facts, USDA and barcode databases, with citations checked by an automated verifier and no sponsors.