Undeclared MSG prompts Jimmy's recall

Photo: Peter McIntosh
Photo: Peter McIntosh
Popular southern pie brand Jimmy's may have to recall ''hundreds'' of pies after a possible allergen was discovered in some of its products.

Yesterday, the Ministry for Primary Industries issued an online recall notice for specific batches of Jimmy's brand mince and mince and cheese pies ''due to the presence of an undeclared ingredient, monosodium glutamate (MSG)''.

Varieties of the Roxburgh brand's individual, paper-wrapped pies affected include Jimmy's Mince and Cheese Pie (170g) and Jimmy's Mince Pie (170g).

Batches up to and including number 8250, and after 8253, were not affected by the recall, the notice said.

Jimmy's owner Dennis Kirkpatrick said the ''unintentional'' addition had come to light when a customer queried the company's use of MSG in its pies recently.

The company had not used the common flavour enhancer since the 1970s, he said.

The unnamed woman's husband - who has an MSG allergy - had experienced a ''choking incident'' after eating a mince pie about a fortnight ago, before recovering unharmed.

After hearing from the customer, Mr Kirkpatrick said staff had tracked the source of the MSG, which had inadvertently been included in an ingredient supplied to the company.

''We make our mince pies with sheep meat, according to local taste, but that means we add a beef stock flavouring to make the mince varieties.

''After digging around a bit, we established our beef stock supplier had changed their recipe recently, and started adding MSG.''

Following the incident, Mr Kirkpatrick said the company had worked closely with MPI to resolve the matter, leading to today's recall.

It was not yet clear how many pies would need to be recalled from the affected batches, but it could be in ''the hundreds'', he said.

''We ship out 20,000 pies a day, so there's a few about, but turnover is pretty quick, too.

''However, we'd advise anybody concerned about MSG to check any pies they may have put by for a rainy day in the freezer and so on.''

He said staff had reacted quickly to address the issue and took quality control seriously.

''We take an incident like this very seriously and have apologised to the customers concerned, and are taking steps to recall, label or make all our customers aware of any pies containing MSG they may still have.

''Unfortunately, it only takes one pie to bugger it up.''

richard.davison@odt.co.nz

 

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