If you bought chicken between October 21 and November 4 this year, better go check the label. The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) just announced a recall of over two million pounds of chicken sold by Simmons Prepared Foods.
The recall is a “Class 1” safety concern, which means, according to the USDA website, there’s a “reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” According to the USDA, the affected chicken may be “contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically metal.”
Simmons Prepared Foods, Inc., under Gentry, Ark., is recalling all 2,071,297 pounds of poultry products sold between October 21 and November 4 of 2019.
The contaminated products will have one of these three establishment numbers: “P-1949,” “P- 486” or “P-5837,” inside the USDA mark of inspection. They were shipped to institutions in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
FSIS reported that they’re “concerned that some product may be frozen and in institutional freezers. Institutions that have purchased these products are urged not to serve them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”
So far, there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products, but the FSIS announcement advises anyone concerned about an injury or illness to contact a healthcare provider.
Consumers can also check out the labels here to see what they look like. If you do have a recalled chicken product, “dispose of it right away or return it to the place of purchase,” the USDA says. Concerned consumers can contact Simmons Prepared Foods at (888) 831-7007.
