Kellogg talks on Special K contamination, Bimbo Bakeries issues recall due to machine fault

20-Feb-2013 - Last updated on 20-Feb-2013 at 11:42 GMT

Bimbo Bakeries USA takes 'precautionary' action with a recall on eight brands

Kellogg has described its Special K Red Berries recall as “very small” as Bimbo Bakeries USA issues a broad voluntary recall on its core bread brands due to possible flexible wire contamination.

The Kellogg Company issued a voluntary recall in the US last Friday on three pack sizes of its Special K Red Berries due to the possible presence of glass fragments. It described the decision as precautionary.

Speaking to BakeryandSnacks.com about the voluntary action, spokesperson Kris Charles said: “This is a very small recall involving about 36,000 boxes of cereal.”

“Kellogg initiated the voluntary action due to the possible presence of glass fragments, from a single batch of one of the ingredients. As soon as we became aware of the situation, we took immediate action to remove the potentially impacted products from the marketplace and immediately addressed the situation with our supplier,” Charles said.

The company said in an earlier statement that it will review all of its processes thoroughly and appropriate actions will be taken to help prevent this situation happening in the future.

Possible wire contamination prompts ‘precautionary’ action from Bimbo

Yesterday, Bimbo Bakeries USA also issued a “voluntary, precautionary recall” on a broad range of its brands due to possible presence of flexible wire caused by a faulty screen at a third party flour mill.

“This recall does not affect any products currently offered for sale in retail stores but the company, out of an abundance of caution, wants to alert consumers to check any affected –products they may still have in their homes,” Bimbo Bakeries USA said.

Sara Lee Multi-grain bread one brand impacted

The recall impacts the following brands - Arnold, Brownberry, Earthgrains, Farm, Harmons, L’oven Fresh, Stroehmann and Sara Lee Multi-grain breads and Sara Lee Thin Style buns.

This broader recall across a range of brands comes one month after Bimbo initially recalled its Annie’s frozen pizza products due to the faulty screen in the flour mill. See HERE.

“Bimbo Bakeries USA is committed to providing high-quality products, and the safety and health of our consumers is our most important priority. We are working closely with the third party flour mill to avoid this issue in the future,” it said.

Repeated recalls prompted by machinery faults

Kellogg and Bimbo Bakeries USA have issued a number of recalls on various products recently, each time due to faulty machinery parts.

In October 2012, Kellogg voluntarily recalled 282,000 packs of Mini-Wheats varieties from shelves due to possible metal mesh contamination from a faulty manufacturing part.

The nationwide recall totted up costs of between $20-30m.

Earlier this year in January, Bimbo Bakeries USA issued two recalls – both due to metal contamination as a result of faulty machinery.

One was the Annie’s frozen pizza recall, and the other involved bagel products under the Thomas’, Sara Lee and Publix Premium brands.