Perdue Foods recalls over 68,000 pounds of chicken nuggets

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Perdue Foods announced a voluntary recall Thursday of more than 68,000 pounds of frozen chicken breast nuggets because some packages may contain pieces of wood.

The Georgia-based company said the contamination could affect some 49,632 bags of Perdue Simply Smart organic brand chicken nuggets, totaling 68,244 pounds. Perdue said the items were produced in October 2018 and have the "best used by" date of Oct. 25, 2019.

The bar code on the packages is 72745-80656 with the establishment number P-33944. There have been no reports of injuries connected with the chicken nuggets, Perdue said.

"After a thorough investigation, we strongly believe this to be an isolated incident, as only a minimal amount of these packages has the potential to contain pieces of wood," Jeff Shaw, Perdue's vice president for quality assurance, said in a statement.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to recall all packages of Perdue Simply Smart Organics Gluten Free Chicken Breast Nuggets produced during the same product run."

Perdue is offering full refunds for those who have purchased the packages and is asking the public not to eat the chicken nuggets. Customers can call 877-727-3447 for more information.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the problem with chicken nuggets was discovered when three customers complained to Perdue about wood found in the product. The complaints also were reported to the service's consumer complaint monitoring system.

The service said there is some concern that some of the contaminated bags may still be frozen and in consumers' freezers unbeknownst to the purchaser.