Star Meat Delivery, a small North Carolina wholesaler that recalled more than 167,000 pounds of beef, pork and goat this week, has been operating for four years without proper inspections and permits, federal officials said Friday. Investigators from the Agriculture Department noticed a “labeling irregularity” on meat for sale at a South Carolina store and found it was stamped with an inspection number that the department hadn’t issued, said Mindy Brashears, the under secretary for food safety.

At least four companies handled the meat before it reached the store’s shelves. It came from an animal slaughtered at a properly inspected facility; went to Star Meat Delivery in North Carolina for further processing; was sold to a Georgia food distributor, A&D Foods; and ended up at a small store in South Carolina. The Agriculture Department did not name the retailer.

Star Meat Delivery’s recall covers meat it has processed since 2022, when it first applied for a grant of inspection. Ms. Brashears said that there had been no confirmed reports of illness or injury from eating the meat, but that it was being recalled because of the risk that uninspected meat could pose. Star Meat Delivery described the situation as a simple administrative error in a lengthy statement on Facebook.

It is unclear whether Star Meat Delivery thought that its paperwork was in order and that it was legally allowed to process meat, or knew it wasn’t and did so anyway. “That is one thing that we are really focused on in the investigation,” Ms. Brashears said.