A hard piece of plastic found by a school inside one pack of Tyson Foods frozen popcorn chicken sparked the recall of 1,148lb of the product. While only one pack of popcorn chicken is believed to have been contaminated, Tyson Foods said it was launching a voluntary recall out of an “abundance of caution”.
The frozen, ready-to-eat, popcorn chicken items were produced on 10 August 2016. All items were transported by Tyson Foods to a single wholesale distributor in Illinois, which in turn sent the products on to foodservice outlets and schools in the midwestern states of Illinois and Missouri.
There have been no confirmed reports of illness linked to consumption of Tyson Foods’ recalled popcorn chicken, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Service and Inspection Service (FSIS).
Limited products recalled
The USDA said Tyson Foods received a complaint from a consumer at a school regarding foreign matter contamination, specifically hard plastic found in one bag of frozen popcorn chicken.
“Though the plastic piece was found in only one package, out of an abundance of caution, the company is recalling limited amounts of product,” said Tyson Foods in a statement.
Tyson Foods is one of the biggest meatpackers in the US and confirmed it has examined all production lines at its meat-processing facility in New Holland, Pennsylvania, to ensure its safety standards are still being followed. “The company continues to evaluate processes and equipment at all of its facilities to prevent similar occurrences,” it said.
In a statement Tyson Foods stressed that the product subject to the recall was not available at retail and products similar to this one sold in retail stores were not affected by the recall.
The recalled product:
- 32.79lb Tyson fully cooked, whole grain golden crispy popcorn chicken, chicken pattie fritters. Case code: ‘70368/928’ on the upper right hand side of the label. Establishment number ‘P-1325’.