diff --git a/features.export.inc b/features.export.inc
index 5045b13..2a609e9 100644
--- a/features.export.inc
+++ b/features.export.inc
@@ -1088,13 +1088,6 @@ function _features_is_assoc($array) {
  *   returns a copy of the object or array with recursion removed
  */
 function features_remove_recursion($o) {
-  static $replace;
-  if (!isset($replace)) {
-    $replace = create_function(
-      '$m',
-      '$r="\x00{$m[1]}ecursion_features";return \'s:\'.strlen($r.$m[2]).\':"\'.$r.$m[2].\'";\';'
-    );
-  }
   if (is_array($o) || is_object($o)) {
     $re = '#(r|R):([0-9]+);#';
     $serialize = serialize($o);
@@ -1104,7 +1097,7 @@ function features_remove_recursion($o) {
         $chunk = substr($serialize, $last, $pos - $last);
         if (preg_match($re, $chunk)) {
           $length = strlen($chunk);
-          $chunk = preg_replace_callback($re, $replace, $chunk);
+          $chunk = preg_replace_callback($re, '_features_remove_recursion', $chunk);
           $serialize = substr($serialize, 0, $last) . $chunk . substr($serialize, $last + ($pos - $last));
           $pos += strlen($chunk) - $length;
         }
@@ -1114,13 +1107,21 @@ function features_remove_recursion($o) {
         $last += 4 + $length;
         $pos = $last;
       }
-      $serialize = substr($serialize, 0, $last) . preg_replace_callback($re, $replace, substr($serialize, $last));
+      $serialize = substr($serialize, 0, $last) . preg_replace_callback($re, '_features_remove_recursion', substr($serialize, $last));
       $o = unserialize($serialize);
     }
   }
   return $o;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Callback function for preg_replace_callback() to remove recursion.
+ */
+function _features_remove_recursion($m) {
+  $r = "\x00{$m[1]}ecursion_features";
+  return 's:' . strlen($r . $m[2]) . ':"' . $r . $m[2] . '";';
+}
+
 /**
  * Helper to removes a set of keys an object/array.
  *
diff --git a/includes/features.menu.inc b/includes/features.menu.inc
index edd4751..84af623 100644
--- a/includes/features.menu.inc
+++ b/includes/features.menu.inc
@@ -420,8 +420,12 @@ function features_menu_link_load($identifier) {
  * Returns a lowercase clean string with only letters, numbers and dashes
  */
 function features_clean_title($str) {
-  return strtolower(preg_replace_callback('/(\s)|([^a-zA-Z\-0-9])/i', create_function(
-          '$matches',
-          'return $matches[1]?"-":"";'
-      ), $str));
+  return strtolower(preg_replace_callback('/(\s)|([^a-zA-Z\-0-9])/i', '_features_clean_title', $str));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Callback function for preg_replace_callback() to clean a string.
+ */
+function _features_clean_title($matches) {
+  return $matches[1] ? '-' : '';
 }