Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.

TrissAnn Rendlic serves a customer while working her summer job at Hank’s Frozen Custard.

TrissAnn Rendlic serves a customer while working her summer job at Hank’s Frozen Custard.

Hank’s Frozen Custard hopes all customers who purchased pints of its peanut butter custard on Wednesday return them for a replacement.

The recall is due to a mechanical failure which may have resulted in a small metal bracket having been packed within peanut butter custard Hank’s produced and sold that day, according to Ryan Hild, owner of the popular frozen custard stand on Conneaut Lake Road in Crawford County.

Hild contacted The Meadville Tribune and took to the Hank’s Facebook page to get the word out Thursday afternoon.

An estimated 40 pints of peanut butter custard were packed Wednesday and the bracket may be in one of them, Hild told the Tribune.

As of early Thursday night, 10 of the 40 pints, or 25 percent, of the peanut butter custard Hank’s sold Wednesday had been returned, Hild said.

However, no bracket was found among them.

The bracket is about the size of a house key. It weighs approximately one ounce and measures 1¼ inches by ¾-inch by ¾-inch.

“Our number one goal is food safety for our consumers,” Hild said. “It only affects peanut butter custard that was produced Wednesday.”

The bracket, which attaches to a blade inside one of the frozen custard-making machines, broke off at some point Wednesday, he said. It was during the nightly cleaning of the machines that the bracket was discovered missing.

“Every evening, each machine is taken apart and cleaned with the help of either myself or my general manager, and one of our employees,” Hild said. “While we were cleaning last night it was discovered that the mechanical failure may have resulted in a metal bracket being accidentally mixed with our peanut butter custard pints that were sold yesterday.”

It’s thought the bracket is in one of those 40 pints because it wasn’t found within another area of the custard-making machine nor in any of the business’ trash from Wednesday.

“This has never happened before,” Hild said. “We immediately stopped the sale of all peanut butter custard products, evaluated the situation, and are issuing the recall of all peanut butter custard pints sold yesterday in order to protect our customers.”

Customers returning the affected peanut butter products they purchased on Wednesday will receive either a refund or replacement pints. In addition, everyone who returns a recalled pint will receive a $10 gift certificate for the inconvenience, Hild said.

“I would ask any concerned customers or anyone who discovered the metal bracket to reach out to us via Facebook Messenger or email at hanksfc@yahoo.com,” Hild said.

Keith Gushard can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.

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