Chicharron chip recall pulls Colombia-made snacks

A chip bag that mixes potato chips, plantain chips and pork cracklings is at the center of a new chicharron chip recall, and the problem has nothing to do with flavor. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that Inexport Logistics LLC, a Miami-based company, is recalling its YUPI GOLPE CON TODO SABOR BBQ mixed chips because the chicharron inside was produced in Colombia, a country the United States does not allow to export meat products. According to the agency, the bags were shipped to distributors and stores in eight states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota and Texas.

FSIS said it has received no confirmed reports of illness or injury tied to the snacks. The agency framed the chicharron chip recall as an import problem rather than a contamination case: the bags carry no import marks, and meat that arrives from a country that is not eligible to export meat to the United States falls outside the federal import inspection system. It is the latest in a string of food safety actions this fall; regulators also raised a jalapeño salmonella recall to its highest risk level in September.

The chicharron chip recall covers single-serve, 60-gram foil bags of YUPI GOLPE CON TODO SABOR BBQ, regardless of the date printed on the package. Each bag holds a mix of three snacks labeled Clásicas, Platanos and Chicharrón Fred. Because nothing on the label shows an import mark, the bags look identical to snacks that cleared inspection. FSIS said the violation surfaced during a recall effectiveness check, when an inspector spotted the ineligible product sitting in a retail location.

For shoppers, the chicharron chip recall boils down to a pantry check. FSIS said it is concerned some bags may still be sitting in kitchen cabinets, and the agency urges anyone who bought them to throw them out or return them to the store where they were purchased. Anyone worried about illness after eating the product should contact a health care provider, the agency added.

Colombia-made meat snacks have drawn scrutiny before

The chicharron chip recall is not the first time a Colombian meat snack has tripped U.S. import rules. Weeks earlier, federal inspectors posted a public health alert for De Todito Limón mixed chips that also contained chicharrón from Colombia, after the ineligible products turned up at two retailers. That case involved a different company, but the violation was the same: pork from a country that cannot export meat to the United States, with no federal import inspection on record.

Under federal rules, a country has to clear a set of equivalency reviews before it can ship meat products into the United States, and shipments are supposed to enter through an approved import inspection system with the right marks on the label. When meat products slip in from an unapproved country, regulators pull them even without evidence of illness, because inspectors did not get the chance to screen them. That is what sets the chicharron chip recall apart from ordinary contamination recalls: the product is not necessarily spoiled, it was not screened.

What to do if the bag is already in your kitchen

What the chicharron chip recall asks of shoppers is simple. The bags are the single-serve foil packs that get tossed into lunchboxes or sold near checkout counters, and nothing on the outside signals that the meat inside did not clear federal inspection. If the bag says YUPI GOLPE CON TODO SABOR BBQ, federal food safety officials say the safest move is to throw it away or bring it back to the store for a refund.

Recalls like this one tend to linger, because shelf-stable snacks can sit in a pantry for months, and frozen berries sold at Walmart and Trader Joe's are also under an expanded recall this month. FSIS deliberately kept the warning broad, covering every bag regardless of its date, because the problem is where the meat came from rather than when the bag was packed. Reported by USA Today on October 5, with additional details from Food Safety News, the case is a reminder that the snack aisle runs on import rules most shoppers rarely notice. Read the full USA Today report on the recall for the complete list of affected products.