Tyson Foods: Almost 12 million lbs. of chicken may have metal fragments

Tyson Foods Inc. is recalling almost 12 million pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat chicken strip products that may be contaminated with metal fragments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Saturday. This is an expansion of a smaller recall issued on March 12.

The frozen, ready-to-eat chicken strip items were produced on various dates from Oct. 1, 2018, through March 8, 2019, and have “Use By Dates” of Oct. 1, 2019, through March 7, 2020.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “P-7221” on the back of the product package. These items were shipped to retail and Department of Defense locations nationwide, for institutional use nationwide and to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The problem was discovered when FSIS received two consumer complaints of extraneous material in the chicken strip products. FSIS is now aware of six complaints during this time frame involving similar pieces of metal with three alleging oral injury.

Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.

FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions about the recall can contact Tyson Foods Consumer Relations at (866) 886-8456.

Consumers with food safety questions can contact “Ask Karen,” the FSIS virtual representative available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov or via smartphone at m.askkaren.gov. The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) is also available in English and Spanish and can be reached from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday. Recorded food safety messages are available 24 hours a day. The online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at fsis.usda.gov/reportproblem.