Plastic & Glass Shards Found In Some Trader Joe’s Packaged Salads

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and Trader Joe’s is celebrating with that most American of traditions — a product recall.

In a Saturday statement made on its website, Trader Joe’s announced that three of its packaged salad varieties — White Meat Chicken, Curried White Chicken Deli and Turkey Cranberry Apple — with use-by dates between November 10 and 21 “may contain pieces of glass/hard plastic.”

The recall affects White Meat Chicken and Curried White Chicken Deli salads sold in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as Turkey Cranberry Apple salads sold in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Trader Joe’s statement notes that only salads bearing the U.S.D.A. inspection code “P-40299” are affected by the recall. This isn’t Trader Joe’s first food-safety scare this fall; the Monrovia, CA-based grocery chain joined Whole Foods and Walmart in issuing a recall in October for vegetable products that were potentially contaminated with listeria.

Trader Joe’s urges shoppers to check the expiration date on their salads and return recalled products bearing the “P-40299” inspection code to any Trader Joe’s store for a full refund, claiming that all potentially contaminated product has “been removed from store shelves and destroyed.”

It’s worth noting that none of the three recalled salad varieties made Refinery29’s power ranking of the 10 best Trader Joe’s pre-made salads; as of now, the Kale & Edamame salad that topped the March list appears to be plastic and glass-free (knock on wood, which is hopefully not an accidental ingredient in any salad).

Nonetheless, as a California resident and daily consumer of Trader Joe’s Turkey Cranberry Apple Salad, I’ve been anxious for the last 30 minutes, despite the fact that ingesting glass is the kind of thing you tend to notice right away.