Perdue chicken nuggets, tenders recalled over possible contamination

Perdue Foods is recalling around 167,000 pounds of frozen chicken breast nuggets and tenders that may have been contaminated with metal, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). 

“We determined the material to be a very thin strand of metal wire that was inadvertently introduced into the manufacturing process,” Jeff Shaw, the senior vice president of food safety and quality for Perdue, said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to voluntarily recall all of these packages of products.”

The recall is voluntary, according to Perdue, and affects 22-ounce packages of the company's simply smart organic breaded chicken breast nuggets, 29-ounce packages of chicken breast tenders with a best-used by date of March 23, 2025, and 22-ounce vacuum-sealed packages of ButcherBox organic chicken breast nuggets with the same best-used by date.

The products subject to recall have an establishment number, P-33944, on the back of their packages.

According to the FSIS, Perdue reported the problem to the government after consumers submitted complaints about metal wire embedded in the product. 

“FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them," the service said in its release. "These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase." 

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of the products. 

Perdue has had to recall food in the past, including in 2017 and 2019.

In 2017, the manufacturer recalled 2,148 pounds of chicken sausage products that may have been contaminated with extraneous materials. In 2019, Perdue recalled more than 31,000 pounds of refrigerated, fully cooked gluten-free breaded organic chicken tenders. 

In 2022, the FSIS issued a public health alert for Perdue’s frozen ready-to-eat chicken breast tenders that were “gluten-free” and may have been contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically small pieces of clear plastic and blue dye. They did not issue a recall at the time because the food product had already left circulation.

The government has issued recalls on a host of foods this month, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including cinnamon, Meijer chocolate chip cookies, CVS infant formula, Lunds and Byerly guacamole and Marabou salt sea chocolate bars.