As one of the most popular sausage manufacturers in the world, Johnsonville prides itself on integrity. Unfortunately, its products are not immune to recalls.
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00:00As one of the most popular sausage manufacturers in the world,
00:04Johnsonville prides itself on integrity. Unfortunately, its products are not immune
00:09to recalls. In March 2024, rubber pieces were found in the brand's Polish kielbasa turkey
00:15sausage. As a result of several customer complaints regarding the rubber, over 35,000
00:20pounds of sausage were recalled, with the highest-risk Class 1 label to boot. Luckily,
00:26Johnsonville swiftly implemented the recall and no injuries were reported. Unfortunately,
00:31it had been less than a year since the company's previous recall, which isn't a great look.
00:36In June 2023, Better With Cheddar Pork sausage links were found to contain thin black plastic
00:41strands. Due to the fact that these sausages come pre-cooked in the package, this contamination
00:46might have been hard for consumers to catch in their minimal prep time. Over 42,000 pounds of
00:51sausage were recalled, all from the same batch sharing the same Best Buy date. Only one consumer
00:57called to complain about this contamination, but that was all it took for Johnsonville to
01:01issue a full recall. Unlike the rubber pieces, the small plastic strands did not pose a huge
01:06threat to sausage fans. The recall was qualified as Class 2 Low Risk. This means that affected
01:12products may have caused negative health effects, but any medical issues would have been reversible.
01:17Thankfully, the brand received no reports of injuries or adverse effects in relation
01:21to the plastic. Before the Better With Cheddar recall, it had actually been a few years since
01:25Johnsonville had called back one of its products. Notably, back in 2019, it wasn't even sausages
01:31that were problematic, but raw pork patties. The brand's cheddar cheese and bacon-flavored
01:36grillers were recalled due to chunks of, you guessed it, black rubber, which was mixed in
01:41with the savory bacon and chunks of cheese. Three customers reported this to Johnsonville,
01:46and the company promptly recalled over 48,000 pounds of pork grillers. Like 2024's Kielbasa,
01:52these rubber-filled patties were labeled as Class 1 High Risk Recall. As strange as it is that
01:57Johnsonville seems to have experienced the same manufacturing issue five years apart,
02:02at least no injuries were reported in either case.
02:05In March 2018, another one of Johnsonville's sausage products was hit with a recall. This
02:09time, jalapeno cheddar sausages were found to have hard green plastic pieces inside them.
02:16"...I'm sensing a theme."
02:18In the largest recall in the company's history, Johnsonville recalled nearly 110,000 pounds of
02:24the pork sausages as a result of the contamination. Despite that metric and the fact that it was
02:29labeled as a Class 1 recall, no one was hurt or faced medical consequences as a result.
02:34Even so, the outcome of people biting into hard plastic could have been much worse.
02:39Johnsonville had actually gone six years without a recall when its jalapeno cheddar sausages were
02:44pulled from shelves. The company's very first instance of a recall dates back to 2012,
02:49when 48,000 pounds of turkey sausage with cheddar cheese were pulled because...
02:54they may have contained pieces of gloves.
02:57While some people might enjoy their sausages chewy,
02:59that's a level even diehard Johnsonville fans would likely want to avoid.
03:03It only took two reports from customers for the company to recall every package that may
03:08have come from a batch produced in May of that year. As usual, the recall was issued swiftly,
03:13and there were no wide reports of consumers being injured by this rubber glove incident.