Check Your Freezer: Chicken Nuggets Recalled for Rubber and Wood
Tyson Foods says its White Meat Panko Chicken Nuggets may be contaminated with rubber two weeks after Perdue Farms recalled nuggets because they may contain wood.
It sounds like a joke about rubbery chicken, but apparently it’s dangerously serious: Tyson Foods, Inc., is recalling about 36,420 pounds of chicken nuggets because they may contain rubber. Yes, really.
The Tyson product you’ll want to check your freezer for is panko-coated chicken nuggets that were produced on November 26, 2018, according to an announcement issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The contaminated products were sold in 5 lb. plastic packages labeled “Tyson White Meat Panko Chicken Nuggets” with a “best if used by” date of November 26, 2019, a case code of 3308SDL03 and time stamps between 23:00 and 01:59.
The recalled products – which are also marked with the USDA inspection number P-13556 -- should be shipped to and sold in stores nationwide.
Photos of the affected product’s packaging can be found here.
According to the USDA, the recall was issued in response to consumer complaints about “extraneous material” – specifically rubber -- found in their chicken nuggets. The agency says that, so far, “no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products” have been reported. However, it warns, if you are concerned that you may have been injured or sickened by the product, you should get in touch with your healthcare provider.
And if you discover them uneaten in your freezer? Do not eat them, the USDA urges, but rather throw them away or take them back to the store where you purchased them. If you have questions about the recall, you are directed to contact Tyson Consumer Relations at 1-888-747-7611.
It’s been a bad week for fans of frozen and refrigerated chicken nuggets -- er, make that a bad month or even .. year.
On Tuesday, Perdue Farms announced that it was recalling 16,011 pounds, or about 21,348 packages, of refrigerated chicken nuggets because of an allergen that was not listed on the label as well as an incorrect UPC code.
The recalled product, 12-ounce packages of Perdue Fun Shapes Chicken Breast Nuggets carrying a use-by date of March 11 and lot codes 17009010-19009010, may contain milk, which was not listed on the product label, according to the USDA.
Produced on January 10 and shipped to stores in in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., they include the establishment number P-369 within the U.S. Department of Agriculture mark of inspection.
No confirmed incidents of adverse reactions from consuming the nuggets have been reported thus far, but consumers who have purchased them are being urged to throw them away or return them to the store from which they purchased them. Anyone who believes they have been injured or sickened by the nuggets is directed to call their healthcare provider.
The two chicken nugget recalls this week follow another issued two weeks ago, also by Perdue Foods, in which 68,244 pounds of ready-to-eat nuggets were recalled because they were found to contain wood.
Yup.
That product: Perdue SimplySmart Organics Breaded Chicken Breast Nuggets Gluten Free sold frozen in 22-oz. plastic-bag packages with “Best By: Date 10/25/19” and UPC Bar Code 72745-80656 on the label and the establishment number P-33944 inside the USDA mark of inspection.
See the label of the affected product here.
The nuggets were produced on October 25, 2018, shipped to stores nationwide, and recalled on January 17.
“The problem was discovered when the firm received three consumer complaints that wood was found in the product,” the USDA noted in a press release. “A complaint was also reported to [the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service] consumer complaint monitoring system.”
Again, no confirmed “adverse reactions due to consumption of these products” have been reported, according to the USDA, but if you find them in your freezer, you should not eat them but rather toss them or take them back to the store where you bought them. And if you think you have been sickened or injured after eating them, see a healthcare provider, the USDA advises.
If you have questions about Perdue’s recalled nuggets, you are directed to contact Perdue Consumer Care at (877) 727-3447.
And given all the bad news about rubber, wood and allergens contaminating prepared nuggets, perhaps it’s time to skip the store-bought stuff make your own? Here’s a recipe.
Photo: iStock
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