Miami 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: 5360 W 16th Ave., Hialeah; 3140 W. 76th St., Hialeah; 1170 W. 49th St., Hialeah; 18600 NW 87th Ave., Palm Springs North; 10780 NW 58th St., Doral; 12175 SW 26th St., West Miami-Dade; 14524 SW Eighth St., West Miami-Dade; 8601 SW 40th St., West Miami-Dade; 16255 SW 88th St., Kendall; 13794 SW 152nd St., Country Walk; 14655 SW 56th St., Kendall and 831 NE Eighth St., Homestead.
Sedano’s stores in Broward County: 10333 Pines Blvd. and 17171 Pines Blvd., both in Pembroke Pines;
Sedano’s stores in the Orlando area: 12981 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Unincorporated Orange County and 5660 Curry Ford Rd., Orlando.
▪ Aries Market: 5945 W 25th Ct., Hialeah.
▪ Bravo Supermarket: 2909 Lee Blvd., Lehigh Acres.
▪ Caribbean Club Market: 5902 Anderson Rd., Tampa.
▪ Extra Market: 12890 SW Eighth St., West Miami-Dade.
▪ Festival Supermarket: 14870 North Kendall Dr., Kendall.
▪ Fresh Choice Food Market: 25 Homestead Rd. N, Lehigh Acres.
▪ Key Foods: 10927 SW 40th St., West Miami-Dade.
▪ Rey Chavez: 3400 NW 62nd St., North Miami-Dade and 780 W. 17th St., Hialeah.
▪ Save-A-Lot: 1215 Homestead Rd. N., Lehigh Acres.
In Texas, they went to Cafe Pinar in Katy, Cuban Grocery Co. in Converse and, in Houston, El Horno and Islazul Cuban Market.
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.
This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 1:10 PM.
