People don’t want fillers in their ground beef, and they especially don’t want fillers that are not, strictly speaking, food. That’s why 4,922 pounds of ground beef have been recalled: The processor discovered that it may have chunks of the extruded polystyrene (what we commonly refer to as “styrofoam”) mixed in with the beef.

What you should look for: The recalled products are 2-pound packages of 80% lean/20% fat ground chuck. They were packaged by JBS USA and distributed in North Carolina, but could have ended up at any of the retailers in that state that sell Certified Angus Beef brand products. They were distributed only in North Carolina.

Look for a production date of 7/15/17 and a case code of 541640. They’ll be marked with USDA establishment number 34176.

What you should do: Don’t eat the beef. You can return the items to the store where they were purchased, or call JBS at (970) 506-7717 if you find this particular beef package in your freezer.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture didn’t distribute a list of retail stores where this ground beef was sold because styro-bits aren’t considered an actual danger to consumers. They’re annoying and shouldn’t be there, but consuming them won’t hurt your teeth or digestive tract.

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