Kraft Foods announced on Tuesday, March 17, that it is recalling about 242,000 cases of the Original flavor of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner over concerns that some of the affected product's boxes may have debris of metal in them.
Kraft spokeswoman Joyce Hodel said that small pieces of metal may have potentially fell into the affected products.
"We believe a piece of stainless steel got wedged in a metal piece of equipment, which may have generated friction that resulted in small pieces of metal potentially falling into the product," Hodel said.
In a statement, Kraft Foods said that the affected products were shipped nationwide and distributed to other countries including Puerto Rico and some South American and Caribbean countries. None, however, was distributed to Canada.
Some of the products were packed in multi-pack unit with a range of codes dates and manufacturing codes on the outside of the packaging. The company urged consumers who have purchased the recalled product not to eat it or return it to the store they have purchased it from to get a full refund or an exchange.
The product being voluntarily recalled is limited to the 7.25-oz. size with "Best When Used By" dates ranging from Sept. 18, 2015 to Oct. 11, 2015. The manufacturing code "C2," which refers to the particular production line, where the affected product was made, can be seen directly below the date on each of the boxes. The company stressed out that no other products with manufacturing code other than C2 are affected by the recall.
Kraft said that it has already received consumer reports about the recalled product. The company also apologized for disappointment caused by the situation regardless that no injury has so far been reported.
"Kraft has received eight consumer contacts about this product from the impacted line within this range of code dates and no injuries have been reported," Kraft said in a statement. "We deeply regret this situation and apologize to any consumers we have disappointed."
Shown is the list of affected products:
Supermarket chain Trader Joe's likewise announced on Tuesday that it is recalling its raw walnut products because these may be possibly contaminated with salmonella.
Salmonella is a bacterium often associated with food poisoning that can potentially lead to fatal infections in vulnerable individuals such as young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. Relatively healthy individuals who contract salmonella infection generally experience nausea, fever and vomiting.
