Black Earth Meat Market Inc., a Black Earth, Wis. establishment, is recalling approximately 99 pounds of beef tongue products because they may not have had the tonsils completely removed, which is not compliant with regulations that require the removal of tonsils from cattle of all ages, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced.

The products subject to recall are various size cases of Black Earth Meats Natural Beef Tongues and Black Earth Meats Local Beef Tongues produced on October 8, 11, 17 and 18, 2012. The products bear Est. 34379 inside the USDA mark of inspection and were distributed to a restaurant in Wisconsin and a distributor in Illinois.

The problem was discovered during a routine Food Safety Assessment at the establishment. Tonsils are considered a specified risk material (SRM) and must be removed from cattle of all ages in accordance with FSIS regulations. SRMs are tissues that are known to contain the infective agent in cattle infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), as well as materials that are closely associated with these potentially infective tissues. Therefore, FSIS prohibits SRMs from use as human food to minimize potential human exposure to the BSE agent. There is no indication that any of the cattle slaughtered displayed any signs of BSE.

Source: FSIS