Kraft Heinz Is Recalling Ready-To-Eat Ham And Cheese Loaf For Contamination

You may want to check your refrigerator to make sure you didn't recently buy Kraft Heinz's Oscar Mayer Ham and Cheese Loaf. The Kraft Heinz Company is a global business with myriad food and beverage brands marketed to customers all across the world, generating billions of dollars per year. Among Kraft Heinz's many brands are icons such as Kool-Aid, Jell-O, and Lunchables, and the full-of-surprises Oscar Mayer.

The Kraft Foods division of this company began in 1903, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, when James L. Kraft started a wholesale cheese-delivery business that soon added cheese-processing to its repertoire. Meanwhile, the notably older Heinz — founded in 1869 — was growing from a horseradish grower and seller into the United State's biggest provider of ketchup, pickles, and vinegar. Both experienced complex corporate journeys and eventually merged in 2015. Kraft Heinz is now one of a dozen or so companies that make almost everything we eat and drink and Oscar Mayer is wrapped up in that web, along with its bacon products, hot dogs, and cold cuts.

Among those Kraft Heinz Oscar Mayer cold cuts is the Ham and Cheese Loaf. The product's creator markets it as flavorful with quality meat and real cheese and it's fit to fill a sandwich — as long as its prepared properly.

Food Safety News reports that the Kraft Heinz Foods Company is recalling about 2,400 pounds of the Oscar Mayer Ham and Cheese Loaf. This product is sliced before being packaged for purchase and some of the stuff was recently cut with potentially contaminated equipment. That equipment touched under-processed products beforehand and since the cooked Ham and Cheese Loaf is supposed to be ready-to-eat, not disinfecting this equipment is a serious issue. The sullied product was then shipped to Virginia and Ohio facilities for distribution. From there, it spread out farther to various retail shelves to be bought by consumers.

Luckily, as of the time this was announced, the United States Department of Agriculture noted there were no documented cases of people suffering from illness due to eating a Ham and Cheese Loaf, although anyone who has reason to be concerned should seek out medical attention. Kraft Heinz notified the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, allowing officials to respond appropriately. The specific 16-ounce products in question were produced on October 10, 2022 and feature codes labeled from "07 Feb 2023 20:40 7B" through "07 Feb 2023 22:16 7B," as well as a USDA mark of inspection establishment number of "est. 537V." 

Any possibly affected Ham and Cheese Loaves should be tossed out or returned to their origin point and not eaten.