Perdue Foods is recalling more than 167,000 pounds of frozen chicken nuggets and tenders after some customers reported finding metal wire embedded in the products.
According to Perdue and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the recall involves select lots of three products: Perdue Breaded Chicken Tenders, Butcher Box Organic Chicken Breast Nuggets and Perdue Simply Smart Organics Breaded Chicken Breast Nuggets.
FSIS and Perdue determined that some 167,171 pounds of product may be contaminated with extraneous material after receiving an unspecified number of customer complaints.
In a statement Friday, Perdue, a Maryland-based company, said the material had been “identified in a limited number of consumer product packages.”
The company later “determined that the material was a very fine wire that had been inadvertently introduced into the manufacturing process,” Jeff Shaw, Perdue’s senior vice president of food safety and quality, said in a prepared statement. Shaw added that Perdue decided to recall all affected packages “out of an abundance of caution.”
According to FSIS and Perdue, there have been no confirmed injuries or adverse reactions associated with the consumption of these products to date. However, FSIS is concerned that these products may be ending up in consumers’ freezers.
The recalled tenders and nuggets can be identified by the product codes listed on the Perdue and FSIS online notices. All three affected products have a use-by date of March 23, 2025, and the establishment number “P-33944” on the back of the package. They were sold at retailers nationwide.
Consumers who have the recalled chicken in their possession are urged to throw it out or return it to the place of purchase. Perdue is offering full refunds to affected consumers, who can call the company at 866-866-3703.
Foreign body contamination is one of the leading reasons for food recalls in the United States today. Last November, Tyson Foods recalls nearly 30,000 pounds of chicken nuggets after consumers also found pieces of metal in the dinosaur-shaped products.
Beyond metal, plastic fragments, rocks, insect pieces and other “foreign” materials have prompted recalls by making their way into packaged products.
