National Steak and Poultry issued a recall of more 1.9 million pounds of its ready-to-eat chicken products, the Unites States Department of Agriculture said Monday. The products are sold as fully cooked for consumers to heat and serve, but they may be undercooked. Undercooked poultry can harbor bacteria that can lead to gastrointestinal illness.
The USDA Food Safety Inspection Service said the recall was issued, “due to adulteration because of possible undercooking, resulting in the potential survival of bacterial pathogens in the products.”
The announcement expands a recall first issued November 23 by the Oklahoma-based company. That recall included 17,439 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken parts for the same reason. The total amount of products now subject to the recall is estimated to be 1,993,528 pounds. The expansion was prompted by a November 28 complaint from a customer about undercooked products, according to the USDA.
The products were sold to retailers nationwide and were produced between August 20 and November 30 of this year. They have a USDA inspection mark with P-6010T on it. They include chicken breast strips with rib meat, boneless chicken cubes, chicken breast fajita strips and many more items. A complete list of recalled products can be found on the USDA website, www.fsis.usda.gov.
The USDA categorizes this as a class I recall which means there is “reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” There are no confirmed reports of illness related to these products so far, according to the USDA.
