Florida Sedano’s stores dominate list of who received 7,600 pounds of recalled croquetas
Frozen croquetas recalled because they weren't made in a USDA-inspected facility and had undeclared allergens went mostly to stores in the Miami metropolitan area , especially Sedano's supermarkets.
And the owner of A Tu Gusto explained to the Miami Herald how the USDA establishment number for a Hialeah facility wound up on his brand's croquetas, which are made in unincorporated Lee County's Lehigh Acres area without USDA inspection.
READ MORE: 7,600 pounds of croquetas marked as made in Hialeah were recalled from Florida and Texas
What croquetas were recalled
All expiration dates of 32-ounce boxes:
A Tu Gusto Paladar Pollo Croquetas
A Tu Gusto Paladar Jamon Croquetas
A Tu Gusto Paladar Pescado Croquetas
A Tu Gusto Paladar Chorizo Croquetas
The stores that received the croquetas
Sedano's stores in Miami-Dade:
Sedano's stores in Broward County:
Sedano's stores in the Orlando area:
Aries Market:
Bravo Supermarket:
Caribbean Club Market:
Extra Market:
Festival Supermarket:
Fresh Choice Food Market:
Key Foods:
Rey Chavez:
Save-A-Lot:
The mistakes that caused the croqueta recall
State records say A Tu Gusto has been a registered business in Lehigh Acres since 2018. Owner Jose Tomas Garcia, in an email to the Miami Herald in Spanish, said the croquetas were made at the company's Lehigh Acres facility.
The USDA-Food Safety Inspection Service said the packaging had a USDA mark with "EST. 11154," which is La Autentica in Hialeah.
"Three years ago, we hired a designer to change the model and design of our packaging," Garcia's email said, "and this designer did a search on the internet for other packaging for croquettes and saw that they all had that seal. It was a mistake to use the seal and, although I am the only one truly responsible, it was due to ignorance."
Garcia said the company is working with the USDA to become an inspected facility.
As for the undeclared allergen, the ingredients list included the bread crumbs (actually "striped bread") but didn't list the wheat, soy and sesame seeds in the bread crumbs separately as allergens.
