USDA says Argentine beef that missed inspection is recalled

Nearly 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef that wasn’t fully inspected before being distributed in Texas and Florida are being recalled, the US Department of Agriculture said.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that Florida-based Corte Argentino LLC was recalling several cuts of beef that missed a “reinspection” step when they entered the United States. No illness or injuries have been linked to the imports, but the USDA is concerned that some of the cuts may already be in fridges or freezers, and urged consumers to throw them out. 

The meat was produced in May and has September freeze-by dates. The USDA didn’t say how the batch had slipped through the import reinspection process.

The recalled beef cuts came in boxes labelled Frigorifico Gorina SAIC, one of Argentina’s top meat-packers. Gorina didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours Tuesday. 

The recall comes not long after the US expanded its annual tariff-free beef import quota from Argentina to 100,000 tons from 20,000 to help tackle inflation – part of a broader trade agreement that has yet to be fully ratified. 

The recall represents a tiny fraction of Argentina’s exports to the US, which have been ramping up since the policy was implemented earlier this year, eating into shipments to China, which is Argentina’s biggest client. For its part, China has at times suspended imports from specific Argentine meatpackers citing a variety of issues.