OK Foods has issued a recall of nearly one million pounds of breaded chicken that has potentially been contaminated with "extraneous materials" — including metal.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Services, the affected items are various ready-t0-eat chicken products that went through production between December 19, 2016 and March 7, 2017. The chicken is sold at many popular food retailers nationwide, including select Walmart stores.
The USDA announced that the problem was discovered this week after OK Foods "received five consumer complaints stating that metal objects were found in the ready-to-eat chicken products and by FSIS inspection personnel during verification activities. After an internal investigation, the firm identified the affected product and determined that the objects in all the complaints came from metal conveyor belting." Insert grimace-face emoji here.
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The statement adds that "FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers."
If you have questions about the recall (or any food safety issue, really), the USDA urges you to make use of its "Ask Karen" tool, a virtual FSIS representative who is available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov.
No one has yet reported any adverse reactions due to the consumption of this chicken, but certainly nobody wants to risk consuming metal shards either, so as always it's best to be on the safe side: Check your fridge and freezer, and toss the stuff if you've got it. Here's a super-specific list of all the affected products, just so you can be extra sure.
But hey, if you're really craving chicken, why not use this as your motivation to cook some up from scratch? It is Sunday, after all. We have a feeling you've got a little free time.