ON Saturday, September 10th, 2016, MIH Marketing and Sales in Beebe, Arkansas, sent out notice of a food recall of approximately 662,049 pounds of various meat and poultry products that were stored under insanitary conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
The raw chicken breast fillet, chicken thigh, chicken drum, chicken wing, and chicken tender items were produced by various federal establishments and sold at 17 retail stores located in Arkansas between April 10 – September 10, 2016. These products were in clear packages weighing approximately 5 pounds each.
This recall is classified as high health risk, under Class I category of hazard. This is a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.
Products were sold at the following locations:
- Edwards Food Giant #19 Forrest City, AR;
- Edwards Cash Saver #3473 Little Rock, AR;
- Edwards Food Giant #37 Marianna, AR;
- Edwards Good Giant #3474 Little Rock, AR;
- Edwards Food Giant #1710 Harrisburg, AR;
- Edwards Food Giant #3475 Little Rock, AR;
- Edwards Food Giant #3444 Bryant, AR;
- Edwards Cash Saver #3476; Edwards Cash Saver #3442 and Edwards Food Giant #3477;
- Knight’s Super Foods, Beebe AR;
- Knight’s Super Foods, Babot, AR.
In addition, various retail meat and poultry products sold at Chicken City Retail stores are being recalled. These products are in clear retail bags with a sales sticker that include the Sell-By Date between October 30, 2016 and March 19, 2017. The Chicken City Retail Stores that are recalling all meat and poultry products are located in Whitehall, AR; Jonesboro, AR; Conway, AR; Searcy, AR Marion, AR; North Little Rock, AR and Brinkley, AR.
The problem was discovered while the FSIS Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audits (OIEA) was conducting routine food defense surveillance activities. The FSIS OIEA investigator discovered that the product was being stored under insanitary conditions, including rodent activity, in the storage areas of the property. FSIS and the establishment detained the remaining product. The items subsequently tested positive for alkaline phosphatase, demonstrating evidence of possible fecal matter.
There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. FSIS has received no additional reports of injury or illness from consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.
Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
Consumers with food safety questions can “Ask Karen,” the FSIS virtual representative available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov or via smartphone at m.askkaren.gov. The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday. Recorded food safety messages are available 24 hours a day. The online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/reportproblem.