Hanwell Village Mart customers are being told to avoid eating ground beef products purchased at the Fredericton-area store over concerns the meat could be contaminated by metal objects.

The Public Health Office issued the advisory on Wednesday and instructed people who have purchased ground beef from the store to check their products.

The affected products were marked as packaged on March 4 with a best before date of March 6.

The health office said in an advisory that packages of lean ground beef, family pack lean ground beef and ground sirloin (ground and packaged in store) are at risk of contamination.

If customers find these products, they are being asked to throw them out immediately or return the package to the Fredericton-area store.

The health office said the warning comes after a problem with a grinder.

“A mechanical malfunction occurred that may have caused metal objects from the grinder to contaminate the beef,” said the advisory.