On March 23, Oklahoma-based OK Foods recalled nearly 1 million pounds of chicken suspected to contain metal and other extraneous material. The recall came after five consumers complained that they had found metal objects in the company’s ready-to-eat chicken products.
A subsequent quality control check by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Services detected metal in the recalled line of chicken products. We’re left scratching our heads: How did the metal end up in these products in the first place? And why did no one notice until consumers complained?
This massive recall targets ready-to-eat breaded chicken products manufactured between December 19, 2016, and March 7, 2017. They can be identified by the USDA inspection mark “P-7092. The products were shipped to and sold by major U.S. retailers, including Walmart.
Sadly for consumers, recalls like this are anything but rare. Fears of salmonella contamination sparked a recall of 1.7 million pounds of chicken in 2015. And it isn’t just chicken. Recalls of beef and pork are just as common and the contamination just as deadly.
North America isn’t alone either. Last month Brazil was the center of one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the meat industry. The world’s largest poultry exporter and the world’s largest meatpacker were found complicit in an insidious cover-up of meat industry practices, including mixing cardboard with chicken meat and injecting chemicals into meat to hide the smell of rotting flesh.
The reality of the meat industry is awful, but it doesn’t have to affect your health. Choosing a diet that is not only safe but also compassionate and healthy has never been easier. Click here to learn more.