GREENE – Bubier Meats is recalling nearly 2,000 pounds of meat because it may be contaminated with fecal matter and other contaminants.

The announcement was made Thursday afternoon by the Maine Department of Agriculture.

Hal Prince, director of the Division of Quality Assurance for the department, said he believed that buyers of about 75 percent of the potentially tainted meat – hamburger and other kinds of beef – had been identified and were sending the meat back.

“Hopefully we caught a good part of it … and it’s coming back now,” Prince said.

The department is concerned about the 25 percent that has not been accounted for. “There were some products that were not lot coded and could not be tracked down,” Prince said. He said that meat was likely sold in smaller quantities.

Prince said the department confirmed that fecal matter and hair had potentially contaminated the meat involved in the recall.

He said the department is not aware of any incidents of sickness reported as a result of the meat.

Bubier Meats, at 194 Sprague Mills Road, has been in business since the early 1970s. Clayton Bubier, who ran the company for decades, died April 18 at the age of 74. The business is being run by family members.

According to Prince, the company sells most of its products to retail establishments and restaurants, with some walk-in traffic. All of the meat in the recall was sold to buyers in Maine.

The problem was discovered Monday during a routine department inspection. Prince said an inspector found tainted meat while inspecting beef in a cooler.

The department worked with the company Tuesday to try to identify the size of the potential contamination and the buyers of the meat.

According to the department, the labels on the products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST.4” inside the state mark of inspection.

The recalled products include:

• 2 whole sides of beef carcasses, 736 pounds, stamped “Est. 4”

• 45 plastic cryovac bags containing 10 to 450 pounds, labeled Bubier Meats “Hamburg”

• 30 plastic cryovac bags containing 10 to 300 pounds of ground beef labeled “Caldwell Farms All Natural Beef”

• 450 pounds of beef primal cuts labeled “Caldwell Farms All Natural Beef.”

Anyone with questions is instructed to call the Department of Agriculture at 287-7533 or company manager Tobey Bubier at 946-7761.