Perdue recalls frozen chicken nuggets possibly contaminated with wood particles

Several consumers complained about finding wood in the gluten-free nuggets

Perdue Foods announced a recall of about 68,000 pounds of chicken nuggets that might contain wood particles.

The ready-to-eat nuggets were produced Oct. 25, 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Specifically, the recalled products are 22-ounce plastic bag packages of frozen “PERDUE SimplySmart ORGANICS BREADED CHICKEN BREAST NUGGETS GLUTEN FREE” with a best by date listed as 10/25/19 and a UPC barcode of 72745-80656.

The products include the establishment number P-33944 inside the USDA mark of inspection. The items were shipped to retail locations nationwide.

Perdue says it discovered the problem Jan. 15 when it received three complaints from consumers who said that wood was found in the products. A complaint also was reported to the FSIS consumer complaint monitoring system. Perdue notified FSIS on Jan. 17.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions from eating the nuggets.

People who bought the products are urged to throw them away or return them to the place where purchased.

Those with questions about the recall may contact Perdue Consumer Care at 877-727-3447.

Rose Shilling is a previous managing editor of Food Engineering Magazine. She wrote feature stories on a variety of topics and tracked the food packaging industry. A journalist with an editing background at news services and newspapers, she also has driven editorial projects in health care and higher education.