The USDA Just Issued This Urgent Warning About Chicken Products
You may want to take extra caution when ordering chicken at restaurants.
As a crucial component of daily life, we want to trust that the food we consume is, at the very least, safe to eat. Unfortunately, a number of food products end up subject to recall every week. When different foods are not manufactured properly or become contaminated during the production process, they can put us at risk for food poisoning or other serious health conditions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), raw chicken is often contaminated with harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens, and almost one million people become sick from eating contaminated poultry each year. Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued an urgent warning about a specific chicken product recall. Read on to find out what was recently recalled due to a high-risk health hazard.
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There have been other recent food recalls for contamination concerns.
Just last week, the FSIS announced that 120,872 pounds of ground beef products were recalled by Lakeside Refrigerated Services due to potential contamination with E. coli o103. Items were produced between Feb. 1 and April 8, and a number were distributed to Walmart stores across the country. Consumers were advised to check their freezers and refrigerators for the recalled items, as affected brands were also sold at Whole Foods, Target, and Winn-Dixie, Midland Daily News reported. Now, distributors and consumers will want to pay attention to another announcement—this time regarding chicken products.
Nearly 15 tons of this chicken product have been recalled.
Approximately 30,285 ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken breast fillets from Wayne Farms, LLC have been recalled, the FSIS announced on April 29. The recall was cited as Class I – High Risk by the agency, which is applied when the agency finds a "reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death."
According to the FSIS announcement, products may be undercooked and were produced between March 1 and March 22, 2022. All recalled products were nine-pound cases of "All Natural Fire Grilled Chicken Breast." Cases either contained eight packages of six-ounce chicken breasts, and had a use-by date of May 20, 2022, or 12 packages of four-ounce chicken breasts, and had a use-by date of June 19, 2022.
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The recall was initiated following a customer complaint.
The recalled chicken products were shipped to a distributor in Illinois and were then sent to restaurants, the FSIS said. And while products were not sold directly to consumers, the issue was identified when a restaurant customer complained about the RTE chicken product appearing undercooked, according to the recall notice.
No adverse reactions have been reported due to the consumption of these chicken breast fillets, the FSIS stated, but anyone feeling ill should reach out to their healthcare provider.
Restaurants have been asked to return the recalled products or throw them away.
The FSIS noted concern that restaurants may have recalled products in their freezers or refrigerators. The RTE chicken breast fillets can also be identified by their establishment number, "EST.20214," which is printed on the case.
Restaurants and distributors are urged not to serve these products and instead throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.
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