Don't Eat the Meatballs

If you've purchased meatballs at the deli in recently, the supermarket chain says you can toss them or return the products for a full refund -- the meatballs may be contaminated with listeria.

Hannaford Supermarkets initially alerted customers to the recall by Buona Vita Inc., based out of New Jersey, on July 10, but many major news organizations only started picking up on the story yesterday and today.

The recall is specific to three meatball products from Buona Vita that are possibly contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. They are all sold through the deli department at Hannaford's -- Homestyle Meatballs with Sauce (sold by the pound), Meatball Panini (cold) UPC #941260723096, and Meatball Panini (hot) UPC #94126072102.

Hannaford's says customers who purchased any of those products should not eat them and can return them to the store for a full refund. The products have been removed from the delis at Hannaford stores.

Hannaford's says Buona Vita’s voluntary recall is actually part of a broader recall of various frozen, ready-to-eat meat and poultry products produced by Buona Vita and sold to distributors nationwide.

The problem was discovered during microbiological testing by the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, says Hannaford's. No illnesses have been reported.

Hannaford Supermarkets is based in Scarborough, Maine and operates 181 stores in the Northeast, including one in West Peabody.