Current Events in June 2018

Just 13.9 percent of adults in the U.S. smoked cigarettes last year, according to a government report released Tuesday.

The new figures represent a decrease from previous years and indicate that the American smoking rate has reached “the lowest level ever recorded.”

In 2016, nearly 16 percent of adults aged 18 and over smoked cigarettes, according to a previous survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 1965, more than 40 percent of U.S. adults smoked cigarettes.

Experts say public health campaigns have helped to raise awareness of the dangers of the addictive habit, helping to drive down the overall number of smokers in recent decades.

Twice as many smoke in rural areas

The first effort to raise awareness about the adverse health effects of smoking cigarettes was made in 1964, when the Surgeon General released the first government report linking smoking with certain diseases.

However, anti-smoking campaigns like these tend to reach more city-dwellers than rural adults. Just 11 percent of adults in a metro area of one million people or more smoke, compared to nearly 22 percent in rural areas, the CDC report said.

Adults in rural areas also "had the highest rates of being obese, having experienced serious psychological distress during the past 30 days, or having diagnosed diabetes," according to the report.

Swapping smoking for vaping

Vaping is now the most common method of consuming nicotine among both high school and middle school students, according to the CDC. Around 12 percent of high schoolers used e-cigarettes in 2017, compared to about 3 percent of U.S. adults as of 2016.

Experts say the decrease in the number of cigarette smokers represents a major public health success. However, federal health officials are now facing the challenge of how to regulate e-cigarettes.

Although e-cigarettes are touted as products to help adults quit cigarettes, health experts are hesitant to promote e-cigarettes as healthier alternatives to traditional cigarettes. Some evidence has shown that e-cigarette use can lead to other forms of tobacco use among youth, and researchers are still trying to gain a clear understanding of the health effects of vaping.

"Yes, vaping doesn't have the high levels of tar and soot that are the major contributors to the cigarette lung cancer risk," Dr. Adam Lackey, chief of thoracic surgery at Staten Island University Hospital, told HealthDay News.

"But you are still inhaling heated chemicals into your body. And you are still getting nicotine, which in and of itself is not particularly healthy, aside from the addiction standpoint."

With the number of young adult vapers on the rise and the health effects of the practice still being studied, the FDA has ramped up its efforts to crack down on youth access to e-cigarettes.

Starting next Monday, Facebook users will begin seeing video ads in their private conversations in Messenger. The autoplay ads will appear in users’ inboxes alongside their chats with family members and friends.

The social media giant has reportedly been running out of places to put advertisements, and Messenger was the next available spot.

The move may prove successful for Facebook, as a recent survey by Statista found that Messenger is the third most popular social media site by monthly users. Additionally, in the early tests of these ads, the company has found that users aren’t using Messenger any differently with the new ads.

What it means for consumers

Perhaps the biggest concern for Facebook users is the privacy factor.

These ads are designed to automatically start playing right alongside private messages, which may feel intrusive to users. Stefanos Loukakos runs Messenger’s ad business, and he is confident the company will monitor user reaction and response to the new ads.

“Top priority for us is customer experience,” Loukakos said. “So we don’t know yet [if these will work]. However, signs until now, when we tested basic ads, didn’t show any changes with how people used the platform or how many messages they send. Video might be a bit different, but we don’t believe so.”

Second try with Messenger ads

While this is the first time video ads will play in Messenger, Facebook did roll out static ads in the app at the start of 2017. Ad space had become limited on the platform, similar to the way it has now, and the company needed more retail space.

However, that time around, only users in Thailand and Australia were seeing these ads. They appeared in the Messenger app, and users could swipe between five different advertisers. Additionally, users had to scroll past their own conversations to get to the ads -- making it slightly less intrusive.

Later in 2017, Facebook began rolling out ads across users News Feeds’ in creative new places. The company began putting ads in Instagram stories, it tested ads in the Marketplace, and started selling mid-roll video ads in the hopes that one of these new formats would be fruitful for the company and solve the problem of very limited ad space.

Following a soft launch to certain users last month, Google has officially launched YouTube Music and YouTube Premium in 17 countries.

Google’s new music streaming service lets consumers listen to music in several ways. The first is through a free, ad-supported version, which may be a good fit for people who just want to try out the service.

For $9.99 per month, users can get YouTube Music Premium. In exchange for the monthly fee, users can enjoy an ad-free experience, as well as mobile app background listening (for audio tracks only), downloads, and offline playback.

For a slightly higher fee of $11.99 per month, consumers can get YouTube Premium. This service encompasses everything YouTube Music offers, as well as background listening for videos and an ad-free experience across all content on YouTube. Consumers who already have a Google Play Music subscription will get access to YouTube Premium as part of their membership.

Personalized mixes

YouTube Music comes with a “reimagined mobile app” and a new desktop interface designed specifically for music.

After opening the app, users can tell YouTube what artists they like to listen to. Google will use these preferences, as well as the user’s YouTube viewing history, to craft “A Station Built For You,” which features “endless personalized music.”

The service continually offers new recommendations based on the user’s listening history, location, and activity. Thanks to its intelligent search feature, YouTube Music can perform lyrics-based searches. Type a few lyrics into the search box, and YouTube will return the song that features those lyrics.

YouTube Music has music videos, official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers, and “hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube,” according to the company.

YouTube Music and YouTube Premium are now available in 17 countries, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Korea, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Consumers can get the new YouTube Music from the Play Store and App Store today, or sign up for YouTube Premium here.

Winter's Sausage Manufacturing Co., of Eastpointe, Mich., is recalling approximately 28,346 pounds of poultry, pork and beef products.

The poultry products were slaughtered under religious exemption, which is not declared on the product label.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The recalled items, produced from March 9, 2018, through June 4, 2018, are listed here.

The recalled products, bearing establishment number “P-10158” inside the USDA mark of inspection, were shipped to retail locations and distributors in Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but discard them or return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Ron Eckert at (586) 777-9080, ext. 224.

General Motors is recalling 71 model year 2018 Chevrolet Sonics.

A joint in the driver's seat-back frame may not be properly welded, reducing the strength of the seat-back frame.

The seat-back may fail in the event of a rear-impact crash, increasing the risk of injury.

What to do

GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's seat-back, free of charge.

The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule.

Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 18178.

Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 139,249 model year 2013-2018 Audi S6s & S7s, model year 2012-2018 A7s &A6 sedans, model year 2014-2018 RS7s equipped with basic seats (with or without heating).

Stress or wear of the body-sensing mat within the front passenger seat may cause the Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS) control module to malfunction.

If the PODS module malfunctions, the front passenger airbag may not deploy properly in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

What to do

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will install a PODS system repair kit, free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin July 31, 2018.

Owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 74D5.

Amazon has begun its Prime membership rate hike for its customer base of more than 100+ million. The new rate raises the annual membership by $20 to $119, the program’s first membership price increase in almost four years.

As is usually the case in situations like this, consumers have to consider the usefulness of the membership program. A new study by EffectiveSpend takes a look at how the new Prime rate will affect consumer shopping behavior.

In its study, EffectiveSpend surveyed 1,000 Amazon customers whose shopping habits fell into one of three brackets -- Prime Member Loyalists (unlikely to cancel), At-Risk Prime Members (likely to cancel), and Current Non-Prime Members.

The results? More than half of the respondents -- 54 percent -- felt the value of their membership does not outweigh the cost.

“This data indicates that customers who drop their Prime membership will be shopping outside of Amazon for more of their higher priced purchases,” said Jared Scott, EffectiveSpends Senior Amazon Strategist.

“Amazon will still be in their consideration set, but in the absence of their Prime membership benefits, these customers are less incentivized to purchase from Amazon and more inclined to comparison shop on other sites.”

Scott concluded that despite an “inevitable loss of some of its current Prime members, Amazon is well poised to grow its revenue from its best customers with a better mobile experience and a more sophisticated advertising platform.”

The consumer’s return on investment from Prime

Undaunted by a potential loss of Prime members, Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos appears set on making Prime membership worth every penny. In his recent letter to investors, Bezos glowed about Prime’s growth.

“In 2017 Amazon shipped more than five billion items with Prime worldwide, and more new members joined Prime than in any previous year,” he said.

Bezos is hoping that Prime loyalists will love the membership plan’s ever-growing list of perks enough to renew.

Since its last Prime price increase, the company has added Whole Foods to its business family -- with a host of locations in which the grocery chain will deliver directly to customers -- faster shipping via Prime Free Same-Day and Prime Free One-Day, widespread delivery to 8,000 cities and towns, unlimited cloud photo storage, the video-game streaming site Twitch, a seemingly-endless parade of new content on Prime Video like Prime Originals and Thursday Night Football, Prime Wardrobe, and the recent addition of Prime Book Box for kids.

The Bank for International Settlements released a new report that Bitcoin isn’t quite ready for the mass market just yet -- and based on recent studies, it may never be.

The Switzerland-based bank deemed the “intense interest” in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies had prompted many to look “beyond the hype” at their contribution to the current economy. BIS said that Bitcoin suffers from a “range of shortcomings” that would prevent it from ever reaching its fullest potential, as was expected by the masses.

In its report, BIS said cryptocurrencies consume too much electricity, are too unstable, and are subject to too much manipulation and fraud to ever really make it in today’s economy. The company also believes one of Bitcoin’s biggest flaws is in its nature of being created, transacted, and accounted for on a distributed network of computers.

Most importantly to consumers, BIS found that the processing of all Bitcoin payments “could bring the internet to a halt.”

Breaking the internet

Supporters of Bitcoin are drawn to the currency’s decentralized nature, meaning that it’s not tied directly to a bank or the Federal Reserve. All Bitcoin transactions are kept in a digital ledger.

However, every single Bitcoin transaction is added to the digital ledger, and as the ledger grows, it ultimately slows down the internet. Using Bitcoin or a similar cryptocurrency for a foreign retail purchase will almost instantly grow the ledger beyond what a typical computer server is capable of handling.

To keep up with verifying payments, users would need supercomputers, but the large amounts of data being transferred and shared between users would be enough to stop the internet entirely.

Using this vast amount of data also presents an energy problem. The amount of energy Bitcoin uses every year -- 32 terawatts -- could power three million U.S. households. Comparatively, Visa processes billions of transactions each year and the energy used could power just 50,000 American homes.

“As Bitcoin grows, the math problems computers must solve to make more Bitcoin get more and more difficult,” said meteorologist Eric Holthaus, inferring that even more energy will soon be required.

Bitcoin concerns

Experts in the field have been warning consumers of the various concerns Bitcoin presents to users. For starters, the cryptocurrency presents a large threat to the environment, as it hurts continued efforts to combat climate change.

“Bitcoin is slowing the effort to achieve a rapid transition away from fossil fuels,” said Holthaus.

Holthaus estimated that at this rate, if a significant change isn’t made to the way Bitcoin is processed, the cryptocurrency will be consuming enough electricity to power the entire country by 2019. Six months later, that energy need could equal the entire world’s consumption.

Along with the environment, BIS says the ever-changing prices of Bitcoin are another concern for consumers. Bitcoin’s prices surged to $19,000 late in 2017 and has since decreased to under $7,000.

Users also have to pay a rather hefty fee each time they complete a Bitcoin transaction to have it added to the digital ledger. When the demand for the cryptocurrency goes up, the fee goes up. Around December of last year when Bitcoin was on the rise, users were charged a $57 processing fee.

“Just imagine, if you bought a $2 coffee with Bitcoin, you would have had to pay $57 to make that transaction go through,” said Hyun Song Shin, BIS’ head of research.

A trial is getting underway in California today in which a consumer who used Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup claims the product caused his cancer.

Forty-six year-old Dewayne Johnson is the first of hundreds of plaintiffs against the chemical giant to have his case heard in court. Johnson worked as a school groundskeeper and, during the course of his job, says he regularly used Roundup to keep grass and weeds under control.

Johnson's case was bumped to the top of the heap after his attorney informed the court that his client was near death. Under California law, dying patients have the right to an expedited court hearing.

The issue in the case is whether Roundup causes cancer, and if so, whether Monsanto adequately warned consumers. Monsanto has vigorously argued that its product does not cause cancer.

World Health Organization has doubts

The World Health Organization (WHO) isn't so sure. Three years ago it found that the main ingredient in Roundup, an herbicide called glyphosate, is "probably carcinogenic to humans."

A year ago the state of California officially classified glyphosate as a chemical known to cause cancer under the state's Proposition 65. That law requires Roundup sold in California to carrying a warning label to that effect.

Monsanto sought to block the move, calling it "unwarranted on the basis of science and the law," but a court dismissed the company's challenge.

Environmentalists have put Roundup under the microscope since the WHO finding in 2015. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) argued the state of California should have set much lower exposure limits than those that were finally adopted.

Shorter pregnancies

Earlier this year, a peer-reviewed study found that women in agriculture-intensive areas of Indiana tended to have shorter pregnancies if they had been regularly exposed to glyphosate, which is used in agriculture as well as to control weeds in suburban lawns.

“Glyphosate is the most heavily used herbicide worldwide but the extent of exposure in human pregnancy remains unknown,” researchers from Indiana University wrote in the journal Environmental Health.

For its part, Monsanto argues that its product has undergone rigorous testing and is the subject of more than 800 studies that have established its safety.

"We have empathy for anyone suffering from cancer, but the scientific evidence clearly shows that glyphosate was not the cause," said Scott Partridge, Monsanto's vice president of strategy, in a statement to the media. "We look forward to presenting this evidence to the court."

On Monday, the Supreme Court passed up two opportunities this term to rule on when and whether states violate the Constitution by drawing political maps that strongly favor one party over another.

The Court heard two cases -- one from Maryland and one from Wisconsin -- and justices didn’t provide a clear timeline as to when issues of partisan gerrymandering may go further than the law allows.

Looking into the cases

In the Maryland case, the Court said challengers to congressional lines that give Democrats seven of eight seats in the House of Representatives waited six years to bring their claim to court. In doing so, they also hadn’t shown how this would potentially harm the district indefinitely, as the Supreme Court’s decision in this case would not affect any elections this coming fall.

“In considering the balance of equities among the parties, we think that plaintiffs’ unnecessary, years-long delay in asking for preliminary injunctive relief weighed against their request,” the Court’s unsigned opinion said.

As for Wisconsin, the case has been ongoing since October. Justices stated that challengers to the construction of 99 state Assembly districts in Wisconsin could not try to change the whole map at one time, but must target specific districts. Like the Maryland case, the Supreme Court didn’t dismiss it, but decided to give the challengers another chance in the lower courts.

“We lack jurisdiction to decide this case, much less draw speculative and advisory conclusions regarding others,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the Court.

Effects across the country

Though the Supreme Court had the opportunity to make a dramatic change in the political landscape, delaying the cases until next term didn’t up-end the status quo.

This decision now won’t result in any major changes for any other states, including North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, and Virginia, where gerrymandering accusations have been levied. Though changes in district lines aren’t necessary this year, by the next election in 2020, it could be up for debate depending on the outcome of these cases in the next term.

Across the country, both state legislators and members of Congress are typically elected in districts that favor the party that controls state government. This was the driving force behind Wisconsin’s lawsuit, as this act has largely favored Republicans throughout the last decade.

Those trying to change Wisconsin’s state lines explained to justices in October that the Republican-drawn lines violated their constitutional rights to equal protection. Similarly, in Maryland, the court’s justices said state Democrats had gone too far after redrawing a Congressional district that Republicans had won for 20 years. According to officials, after they redrew the district, the Republican candidate lost in a landslide.

“Partisan gerrymandering, as this Court has recognized, is ‘incompatible with democratic principles,’” said Justice Elena Kagan. “More effectively every day, that practice enables politicians to entrench themselves in power against the people’s will. And only the courts can do anything to remedy the problem, because gerrymanders benefit those who control the political branches.”

Rupert Stadler, the CEO of Volkswagen’s Audi division, was arrested on Monday over “concerns over potential evidence tampering” in the probe of Volkswagen’s diesel-emissions cheating case.

The arrest comes one week after the executive’s home was raided by authorities, who afterwards named him a suspect in their investigation into fraud and falsifying public documents in relation to the “dieselgate” scandal.

Last week, Volkswagen also agreed to pay a fine of about $1.16 billion for failing to properly supervise the staff members who came up with the software used to cheat emissions tests.

Stadler’s is the highest-profile arrest in the ongoing investigation into Volkswagen’s manipulation of emissions controls, which first came to light in 2015.

“Munich prosecutors said in a statement Monday that Rupert Stadler, who has worked for Audi parent company Volkswagen since 1990, had been detained because of concerns over potential evidence tampering,” CNN Money reports.

Ongoing case

Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 to equipping over 11 million of its diesel cars with illegal software to cheat U.S. emissions tests. The scandal has cost the company billions of dollars and has led to the indictment of several top executives.

"As part of an investigation into diesel affairs and Audi engines, the Munich prosecutor's office executed an arrest warrant against Mr Professor Rupert Stadler on June 18, 2018," the Munich prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Prosecutors in Munich have ordered that Stadler be detained to prevent him from fleeing, influencing witnesses, or in any way obstructing the investigation.

A VW spokesperson confirmed to CNN Money that Stadler had been arrested but declined to comment on the investigation. He said the automaker’s board would discuss it later Monday.

"The principle of the presumption of innocence continues to apply to Mr. Stadler," the spokesperson said in a statement.

For months, consumer advocates have called on the Trump administration to appoint a new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to replace Mick Mulvaney.

It calls to mind the admonition, be careful what you wish for.

President Trump has, in fact, named his intended replacement for Mulvaney, who is also the president's budget director. Mulvaney has been directing the consumer agency as a second job, while angering consumer advocates for allegedly changing the agency's mission.

The prospective nominee, so far at least, isn't going over that well. She is Kathy Kraninger, Mulvaney's deputy at the Office of Management and Budget. While little is known about Kraninger, consumer groups are assuming she would follow her boss' policies.

Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, says the agency needs a director who has a strong record of commitment to protecting consumers when they do business with financial services companies. She claims this nomination aims to keep the CFPB "hobbled."

Consumer groups have been highly critical of Mulvaney, who as a member of Congress twice voted to abolish the CFPB. In his last appearance before Congress, he urged lawmakers to take direct control of the agency, saying it has too much power and hasn't been held accountable.

Not returning to original mission

Consumer groups say that the nomination of Kraninger will likely mean the CFPB won't go back to its original role of aggressively protecting consumers' interests.

“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt by Mick Mulvaney to maintain his grip on the CFPB, so he can continue undermining its important consumer protection mission on behalf of the powerful Wall Street special interests and predatory lenders that have bankrolled his career,” said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress.

Frisch said the Senate should immediately schedule confirmation hearings and reject Kraninger's nomination, claiming she has "no relevant experience."

According to Bloomberg News, most banking industry lobbyists it consulted had never heard of Kraninger, although she did get an endorsement from Rob Nichols, president of the American Bankers Association.

The CFPB was established under the 2010 Dodd Frank Act and given a large degree of independence to shield it from political pressure.

Its creation was proposed by Harvard professor, and now Senator, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and its first director was Richard Cordray, who aggressively pursued consumer issues as the attorney general of Ohio.

In an email to employees, Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave an update on the company’s plan to produce 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of this month.

Musk said the company is now producing “about 500” vehicles per day, or about 3,500 per week. He said that some parts of the production system have already reached 700 cars per day and praised staff for their hard work.

“It’s getting very exciting! All parts of the Model 3 production system are now above 500 and some are almost at 700 cars already. Congratulations to all on making so much progress,” Musk said in the email sent Friday night, obtained by Electrek.

However, Musk said that there are a few bottlenecks preventing all parts of production from reaching the goal of 700 cars per day. “Radical improvements” are still needed on some parts of the production line, he said.

To make sure the company hits its quarterly production targets, the CEO told employees that he will be at the Fremont factory “almost 24/7 for the next several days” to make sure the teams that are behind -- which include the paint shop and the end of the general assembly line -- get “as many resources as they can handle.”

Ramping up production

Earlier this month, Musk said it is “quite likely” that Tesla will hit a weekly Model 3 production rate of 5,000 cars “by the end of this month.”

Last week, Musk told staff that employees in non-critical positions would be let go under a broad reorganization effort intended to achieve profitability during the second half of the year. He said the company would be cutting at least 9 percent of its workforce, but employees involved in Model 3 production wouldn’t be let go.

Tesla originally planned to make 5,000 Model 3 units per week by the end of 2017, but it ended up producing only 2,425 Model 3 cars in the fourth quarter of last year.

Musk has regularly referred to the early stages of production as “hell.” In April, he revealed that he was sleeping on the factory floor to oversee Model 3 production when the company was trying to increase production by over 2,000 units per week.

HF Food Distributors of Orocovis, Puerto Rico, is recalling approximately 142 pounds of sliced cooked ham that did not undergo federal inspection.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The 1-lb., plastic-wrapped packages of “JAMON COCIDO REBANADO” with a sell by date of “May 25, 00” on the label does not bear an establishment number, mark of inspection, or an ingredients statement.

The recalled item was shipped wholesale to Head Start centers in Puerto Rico.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled product should not consume it, but discard it or return it to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Jose Figueroa at (787) 213-7892.

Dave’s Pet Food of Agawam, Mass., is recalling a single lot of Dave’s Dog Food 95% premium beef cans that may contain elevated levels of beef thyroid hormone.

Dogs consuming high levels of beef thyroid hormone may exhibit symptoms such as increased thirst and urination, weight loss, increased heart rate and restlessness.

The symptoms may stop when the consumption of these levels is discontinued.

The Food and Drug Administration analyzed the product after receiving a complaint that four dogs consuming it were found to have low Free T4 (fT4) and Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).

The recalled product, sold in pet stores and ecommerce sites along the east coast of the U.S., involves a single batch (548 cases) of 13-oz., 95% premium beef dog food with a UPC # of 85038-11167 and a date code of 08/2020.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled product should stop feeding it to their dogs.

Consumers who have questions or would like a refund or coupon for replacement product, may call (888) 763-2738, Monday through Friday, between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM (EST).

Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 54,537 model year 2018 Volkswagen Atlas vehicles.

The owner's manuals provided with the recalled vehicles do not inform customers about the child restraint size limitation/restrictions for the second row center seating position.

As a result, the center and adjacent outboard seat belt buckles on the second row can become damaged it a child seat base is installed that is wider than 12.6 inches.

A damaged seat belt buckle can release unexpectedly, increasing the risk of injury in a crash.

What to do

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the center and left outboard seat belt buckles, and replace them if necessary, free of charge.

The automaker will also provide an owner's manual supplement addressing child safety and child restraints.

The recall is expected to begin August 3, 2018.

Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69X1.

J Bar B Foods of Waelder, Texas, is recalling approximately 410,985 pounds of beef brisket smoked sausage.

The product contains a pork casing, which is not declared on the label.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The following ready-to-eat item, produced from June 21, 2016, to May 29, 2018, is being recalled:

• 12 oz. vacuum-packed packages of “H-E-B TEXAS HERITAGE SAUSAGE SMOKED WITH NATURAL HARDWOOD BEEF BRISKET.”

Lot codes, packaging dates and other identifying label information may be found here.

The recalled product, bearing establishment number “EST. 7066” inside the USDA mark of inspection, was shipped to retail locations in Texas.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled product should not consume it, but discard it or return it to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Adam Bosi at (860) 787-7511.