More Than 4.5 Million Pounds Of School Poultry Recalled Over Possible Foreign Matter Contamination

In an update to its April 7 recall of approximately 40,780 pounds of cooked chicken nugget products from Pilgrim's Pride Corp. over possible contamination by extraneous plastic, the USDA has announced that the recall now applies to an exponentially larger number of nationally distributed products. The items were shipped nationwide for institutional use, including by schools.

Based on the latest available information from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, Pilgrim's Pride is recalling 4,568,080 pounds of fully cooked chicken products "that may be contaminated with extraneous materials, including plastic, wood, rubber, and metal."

While the initial recall included products that were produced on October 5, 2015, the updated announcement includes a variety of chicken products produced between August 21, 2014 and March 1, 2016.

Affected products were sold under the names Gold Kist Farms and Sweet Georgia Brand, and include dozens of items of varying weights and sell-by dates.

The initial recall was issued after Pilgrim's Pride received several consumer complaints regarding plastic contamination. The FSIS identified more affected product types and dates of production after investigating additional complaints.

A full list of the affected products can be found online at the FSIS website