12 Million Pounds of Tyson’s Chicken Strips Recalled Due to Metal Fragments, Choking Hazard

Tyson Foods has announced a massive expansion for a prior recall involving ready-to-eat chicken strips, indicating that nearly 12 million pounds of the frozen products may be contaminated with metal fragments, which pose a potential choking or laceration hazard for consumers.

The U.S. Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the Tyson’s chicken strip recall on May 4, after multiple consumer complaints indicated that pieces contained small pieces of metal, including at least three incidents resulting in oral injuries.

This action expands a previous recall issued on March 21, when the manufacturer first recognized there may be metal fragments in the products. However, the initial recall was limited to 69,093 pounds of Tyson chicken strips.

A preliminary investigation discovered that a piece of machinery used during the production process could have allowed pieces of metal to enter the chicken products during production.

Since the original recall, four additional consumers reported finding pieces of metal in additional ready-to-eat chicken strip products, resulting in three oral injuries. As a result of the newly reported findings and injuries, Tyson Foods expanded the scope of the recall investigation and discovered more than 11.8 million additional products may have been subject to contamination.

Tyson Foods indicated it has discontinued using the specific piece of machinery that caused fragments to enter the chicken strips, and will install a newer X-ray machine to better screen its products. To date, the size of the metal pieces that entered the recalled chicken strips is unknown.

The recall expansion includes approximately 11,829,517 million pounds of certain fully-cooked crispy chicken strips sold under the Tyson, Best Choice Buffalo, Great Value and Food Lion name brands. The recalled products were manufactured by Tyson Foods Inc., of Rogers, Arkansas from October 2019 through March 8, 2019. They have “Use By” dates ranging between October 1, 2019 and March 7, 2020. The products were shipped to various retailers throughout the U.S. marked with the establishment number “P-7221” on the back of the product package.

The recall has been categorized as a Class I recall, indicating there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious adverse health consequences, or even death.

Customers are being asked to check their freezers for any remaining inventory and retailers are being asked to immediately remove any recalled products from store shelves. Customers should stop eating the recalled products immediately and either discard them or return them to their place of purchase for a full refund.

For additional questions or concerns regarding the recall, customers may contact Tyson Foods Consumer Relations at 1-866-886-8456.