Stella Artois fans may want to hold off on the chalice for the time being. The Belgian beer brand, owned by global macrobrewery, Anheuser-Busch InBev, announced a voluntary recall on Monday for bottles of its beer packaged in the U.S. in Canada.
According to an announcement from Stella Artois, a partial recall of its 11.2-ounce bottles are in effect due to possible contamination of glass particles.
The Stella Artois recall includes bottles available in six-packs, 12-packs, 18-packs, 24-packs, “Best of Belgium” multi-packs in the U.S. and Canada, and Stella Artois Légère 6-packs and 12-packs in the U.S. Canned beer, draft beer, and bottles of beer with other production codes are not affected, Stella said in a press release.
The recalled bottles come from a production facility operated by a third party that produces less than one percent of Stella Artois bottled beer in North America annually, and Stella Artois believes the number of affected bottles will “be far less than this,” the announcement said.
“The safety of our consumers is our top priority,” Christina Choi, Global Brand VP, Stella Artois, said in a press release. “While the number of potentially-affected glass bottles is very small, we are recalling these Stella Artois packages as a precautionary measure. Our team of technical experts has been working with our third-party glass bottle supplier to ensure this packaging flaw has been addressed.”
Any beer that is possibly affected will have one of several packaging dates. To check if your Stella Artois bottles might be affected, look for the production code on the back of the label (or the side of the cardboard box, if you bought a case). The exact codes are listed in this announcement from Stella Artois and shown here.
If you have a bottle marked with any of the identified production codes, visit stellaartoisv.expertinquiry.com or call 1-855-215-5824 for information about next steps and reimbursement. And, this should go without saying, but don’t consume the product if you think it might be affected.
This is not a first for a beer company: Last year, Sierra Nevada recalled bottles of its beer packaged at its Mills River brewing facility in North Carolina for the same reason.
