10 Of The Worst Ham Recalls We Can't Ignore

A foolproof trick to hosting a for-the-books dinner party is to have a ham centerpiece big enough to feed all your guests. And unlike poultry and steak, ham's pretty versatile, hard to mess up, and quick to prep. Some cuts even come pre-cooked, so you don't have to twist yourself into knots trying to bake the perfect ham (though it's easy work if you're up for it).

But like every meat product — and really, practically every food that's ever made it onto your dinner plate — ham's been hit hard by recalls. Some of the biggest meat recalls in history, like the Boar's Head and ConAgra Foods Listeria recalls of 2024 and 2005, involved ham products.

And it hasn't just shown up on recall lists as collateral damage. Ham's been front and center in some pretty massive recalls of its own. We take a deep dive into some of the worst, involving everything from Listeria contamination to foreign objects, undeclared allergens, and processing errors.

Though you might need to give it a soak in cold water to balance out the saltiness, buying pre-cooked, ready-to-eat ham is a great way to skip the hassle of baking from scratch. And since food companies typically cook their hams per USDA-safe standards, you don't have to fret about undercooking it and ending up laid up for days with food poisoning.

But don't let the allure of that "ready-to-eat" label lull you into a false sense of security. Pre-cooked ham is still very much susceptible to contamination. Sure, most producers bake their ham to an internal temperature high enough to kill bacteria like Salmonella and Listeria, but undercooking isn't the only way contamination can sneak in. Sloppy handling — whether during slicing, packaging, transport, or storage — is just as likely to expose even the most carefully prepared ham to harmful bacteria.

That's likely a lesson Iowa-based Field Packing Co. had to learn the hard way in April 2005, when it was forced to pull 29,000 pounds of ready-to-eat hickory smoked ham from circulation after in-house testing turned up Listeria monocytogenes. Sold under Mickelberry's and Kentucky Legend brands, the tainted ham had already been distributed to bulk buyers in several states, including California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, and Indiana prior to the recall. Despite the wide scope of distribution, no cases of listeriosis were reported.

When you hear of a recall involving contaminated deli meats, your first thought is likely foodborne bacteria like Salmonella or Listeria. But though it's been responsible for a great number of recalls over the years, bacterial contamination isn't the only thing health officials look out for ... at least not in pork products. Parasites like Taenia solium (pork tapeworm), Trichinella, and Toxoplasma gondii can also roam free in unprocessed pork. And while hog-raising standards have improved significantly — making it highly unlikely to find parasites in store-bought or even homemade ham – USDA regulations still require all cured hams to be dried for at least 35 days at a minimum of 45 degrees Fahrenheit. This balances salt and water activity to a point where Trichinella — the most common parasite found in pork — can't survive.

That's why North Carolina-based Brockwood Farms was forced to recall 30,000 pounds of ham after an FSIS inspection revealed it hadn't been dried long enough or at the right temperature to kill Trichinae. Consuming food tainted with Trichinae larvae can lead to Trichinosis, a parasitic infection that can show up as anything from mild stomach upset within a couple of days to muscle pain, facial swelling, fever, and extreme fatigue within weeks of infection. If left untreated, Trichinosis can cause potentially life-threatening complications like heart failure, circulation issues, parasitic pneumonitis, and even brain death. Even people who end up recovering from Trichinosis can still experience long-term sequelae of complications, including weight loss, hearing loss, vision problems, hair loss, and partial or complete loss of voice.

Though it might slow down your grocery run by a few seconds, giving food packages a quick once-over before tossing them into your cart is always a good idea. For one, it could help you weed out items made under sketchy food safety and sustainability standards. And if you're one of the estimated 33 million Americans living with a food allergy, it might just save you a trip to the emergency room.

To help shoppers spot known allergens on the often lengthy line-up of ingredients on most product packaging, regulators require all foods containing known allergens like wheat, nuts, soy, milk, and eggs — either directly or through cross-contamination on factory floors — be clearly labeled. And unlike some food safety mandates, this one is legally enforceable, meaning that products containing known allergens but failing to declare them on packaging can be removed from circulation.

This is exactly what happened in 2005, when an estimated 37,000 pounds of ham products produced by California-based Sunny Valley Smoked Meats, Inc were placed under recall after they were found to contain undeclared wheat and soy. While there are plenty of myths and misconceptions about food allergies flying around, one thing everybody seems to agree on is that people with food allergies should not consume even small quantities of the food to which they're allergic. While mild symptoms like hives, nausea, and vomiting are much more common, people with food allergies can also develop anaphylaxis; a rare, almost instantaneous allergic reaction that can cause breathing difficulties, low blood pressure, and death from secondary complications like organ failure and cardiac arrest. 

A cold ham sandwich is right up there with PB&Js and turkey subs in terms of grab-and-go lunch perfection. They're pretty easy to put together too — just a couple slices of ham straight out of the fridge, some toasty bread, cheddar cheese, and a sweet add-on like marmalade to balance out the saltiness, and you've got yourself the perfect one-minute lunch. One thing to call to mind as you assemble your sandwich: Not all cuts of ham are made equal. Some, though flaunting a fully cooked label, might not be completely safe for fridge-to-table consumption.

Even without the telltale signs of spoilage — like a rancid odor, slimy texture, or color changes and mold — pre-cooked ham can still be tainted with Listeria monocytogenes. This is a foodborne bacteria that, while unlikely to cause any illness beyond transient stomach upset in healthy people, can cause severe and potentially fatal meningitis (swelling of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord) in the elderly and people with weakened immunity.

With such high stakes, food industry regulators can't just let food known or suspected to be contaminated with Listeria lurk around on grocery store shelves, which is why in 2006 HoneyBaked Foods, Inc. had to pull 46,941 pounds of sliced and glazed fully cooked half ham and boneless turkey products from circulation after in-house testing revealed Listeria. Produced between September 15 and November 13, the potentially tainted ham had been distributed nationwide via the company's internet catalog and HoneyBaked stores in Toledo, Ohio.

Since food recalls involving microbial contamination can spur product pulls spanning entire supply chains and millions of pounds, food companies tend to be pretty militant about making sure their products arrive at retail points untainted. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) adherence, strict temperature control, vacuum sealing, and high-hygiene zones; all some of the many strategies producers leverage to forestall contamination during production. Some producers even carry out routine testing for bacteria like Salmonella and Listeria just to make sure no harmful pathogens sneak past the line. But sometimes, products are dispatched before testing confirms safety, which is hardly cause for concern if everything comes back clean, but a huge deal if it doesn't.

That's the kind of conundrum Illinois-based Gusto Packing found itself grappling with in January 2014, after in-house testing revealed that batches of hickory smoked spiral sliced ham were tainted with Listeria. Most of the ham had been held back pending results, so all the company had to do was freeze and recondition it prior to distribution.

Unfortunately, some of it had mistakenly been shipped out and was already in circulation across Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and some parts of Canada. As a result, an estimated 67,113 pounds of ham sold under brands like Centrella Signature, Amish Valley, and Ripple Creek Farms, were placed under recall. Although only 18,997 pounds of the tainted ham were ultimately retrieved from commerce, no cases of Listeriosis were reported in either local or international markets.

Though you might find an almost overwhelming selection of hams on grocery store shelves (some of which you're better off steering clear of), most of the ham produced in the country doesn't make it to retail. A huge proportion of it ends up bulk-shipped to downstream manufacturers to be used as an ingredient in other products. While there are many upsides to this sort of arrangement, it can spiral out real quick if an upstream product gets caught in a recall. Some of the worst food recalls in recent history — like the Boar's Head deli meat recall of 2024 — blew up because one single recall rippled across the supply chain, felling thousands of products spanning hundreds of brands and producers.

Something similar — albeit not quite as massive — happened in 2018 when North Carolina-based Johnston County Hams recalled an estimated 89,096 pounds of fully cooked country ham sold under brands like The Old Dominion, Padows Hams & Deli, Valley Country Hams, and Goodnight Brothers after they were linked to a Listeria outbreak that caused four illnesses and one death across North Carolina and Virginia. 

Just days later, the recall rippled across Johnston County's supply chain, setting off multiple secondary recalls. South Carolina-based Ladyfingers Catering, LLC took the biggest hit, yanking 47,462 pounds of its Signature Shaved Country Ham Rolls – all made with Listeria-tainted Johnston County ham — from retail stores in Virginia, South Carolina, Washington D.C., North Carolina, New York, and Delaware. Hot on its heels was Callie's Charleston Biscuits, LLC, which pulled 20,191 pounds of its Cocktail Ham Biscuits and Country Ham Biscuits from shelves nationwide. Then came Ukrop Homestyle Foods, which recalled 18,296 pounds of ham-based rolls spanning 12 product categories and brands like Harris Teeter, Kroger, Ukrop's Catering, and Hudson News from retail stores in Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Ohio.

If ham's natural salty smokiness isn't to your liking, there are a few tried-and-true tricks you could experiment with. Slathering the pre-bake with honey or brown sugar is pretty standard, but you could also steer a bit off convention and use malted barley, whose sweet, nutty tones pair really well with ham's smoky saltiness.

It's such a neat trick, a few food companies have actually honed in on it; one of them being Hahn Brothers, Inc., makers of Lou's Garrett Valley Natural's All Natural Black Forest Season Uncured Ham Nuggets. But since malted barley can cause mild to severe allergic reactions in people with a wheat allergy, this product is typically clearly labeled as containing wheat. Except in August 2017, when batches of ham nuggets produced over a year and a half were sent out to commerce without the required labels.

The company only became aware of the issue after a customer called in to report that malted barley was missing from the product package, despite being listed as an ingredient on the company website. Hahn Brothers then voluntarily recalled 115,773 pounds of ham nuggets, spanning a wide production run, from retailers nationwide.

People with a wheat allergy weren't the only ones at risk of developing an adverse reaction to eating the mislabeled ham nuggets. An estimated 2 million Americans have celiac disease, a condition where the immune system mounts an unusually aggressive reaction to gluten, a protein found in grains like wheat, rye, and barley. Taking in even tiny amounts of gluten can cause days or weeks of bloating, stomach pain, diarrhea, headaches, and mood swings in people with celiac disease. And because celiac flare-ups damage the intestines, people with celiac disease can also suffer long-term complications like weight loss, anemia, and nutrient deficiencies from eating foods containing gluten.

Though harmful pathogens like Listeria and Salmonella tend to dominate the recall list, they're not the only reason a product can be yanked for contamination. Contamination with foreign objects like plastic, metal, or even glass has spurred recalls of everything from MadeGood granola bars to Trader Joe's soup dumplings, and Johnsonville sausage links.

Of course, producers have an array of strategies and protocols to make sure food contaminated with foreign objects never makes it to commerce, but they're not foolproof; something Cumberland Gap Provisions Co. of Middlesboro, Kentucky learned the hard way in December 2001 after it was forced to recall an estimated 251,000 pounds of fully cooked hickory smoked ham products sold under brands like Olde Kentucky, Martin's, Cumberland Gap, and Pine Mountain from retailers in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and Georgia over potential contamination with an unspecified foreign object.

Curiously, the recall wasn't spurred by a mundane deviation from protocol. Per The New York Times, a disgruntled employee had allegedly intentionally adulterated a lot of ham produced at IBP Inc.'s Logansport plant with nails and other unspecified foreign objects. In a statement, Cumberland Gap Provisions Co. then-president Ray McGregor claimed that none of the company's strict protocols had been breached and that an internal investigation into the issue had turned up nothing. However, a few people had called in claiming to have sighted foreign objects in their ham, forcing the company to place the affected product line under recall.

Just days later, the recall spilled over to Ohio-based Ohio Packing Co., a downstream user of Cumberland Gap ham products, which then pulled an estimated 15,000 pounds of ham products spanning brands like Kingsbury, Dutch Creek, Harvest Hickory, and Cincinnati Deli from bulk buyers across Ohio for the same reason.

Taking the cake for the worst Listeria-related ham recall ever is Michigan-based Alexander & Hornung. In December 2021 it recalled 234,391 pounds of fully cooked ham and pepperoni products spanning 17 categories and multiple brand names, including Wellshire Wood, Niman Ranch, Amish Valley, Butcher Boy, Lancaster, and Open Nature from retailers across the country after in-house product sampling revealed Listeria contamination. Just days later, the recall was expanded to 2,320,774 pounds and almost a dozen other product categories.

Although no illnesses were reported, having such colossal quantities of Listeria-tainted meats in commerce is pretty risky. Granted, Listeria is unlikely to lay up a healthy person with food poisoning for days. Barring the absolute rarest of cases, it's quite possible for healthy people to contract listeriosis and not even know about it. Healthy people typically develop a non-invasive form of listeriosis, which can sometimes resolve with symptoms at all or only cause run-of-the-mill flu-level symptoms like body aches, fever, and fatigue that resolve after a couple of days.

That said, listeriosis can be pretty dangerous for vulnerable groups like the elderly or persons with weakened immune systems. In these groups, Listeria is much more likely to invade the bloodstream, leading to a full-body infection that can overwhelm the body's immune system, leading to septic shock, which can then cascade to multi-organ failure or even death. Consuming food contaminated with Listeria is also extremely risky for pregnant women, who — while unlikely to experience the more severe symptoms seen in at-risk groups like the elderly or the immunosuppressed – can still pass along the bacteria to their unborn baby, leading to infection, premature birth, miscarriage, or stillbirth.

Tired of making food that just doesn't quite hit the right umami notes? Try MSG. It's great in steak, fried chicken, spaghetti sauce, and even cocktails. Don't start second-guessing whether something that versatile is actually good for you, though, because you're unlikely to get a straight answer; not even from food experts. Lab studies have linked MSG to all manner of health defects, including heart, liver, kidney, and brain damage. There's even evidence tying the stuff to metabolic disruption, tumors, and even behavior changes. Still, it's unclear whether those studies can be taken at face value, since most haven't held up to expert scrutiny.

That said, some folks steer clear of MSG purely as a just-in-case precaution. And while the idea of an MSG allergy has largely been dismissed as mythical by the scientific community, it is possible to have a sensitivity or even allergic reaction to foods containing MSG. That's why the FDA mandates that all products containing MSG be clearly labelled, and why, in June 2009, Sigma Processed Meats of Seminole, Oklahoma had to yank a whopping 2.68 million pounds of fully cooked ham products that contained MSG but were not labeled as such.

While it remains unclear just how much MSG the ham products contained, it likely wasn't much, considering the recall was issued under Class II. The FDA warns that consuming large doses of MSG – say, more than three grams on an empty stomach — can cause hypersensitivity symptoms like skin rash, bloating, stomach upset, and headache. Of course, no grocery store food is likely to pack in that much MSG, so the risk here was probably marginal, which could explain why no illnesses or adverse reactions were reported despite the massive scope of the recall.