Chicken Nuggets Recalled

If chicken nuggets are on the dinner menu this week, consumers may need to redo their plans. On Jan. 13, Olymel recalled St-Hubert and Cavalier brand chicken breast nuggets over a concerning issue. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the recalled nuggets may contain pieces of wood, making them unsafe for consumption.

Affecting consumers in Canada, the recall only affects St-Hubert and Cavalier brand chicken nuggets. The recalled Cavalier brand chicken breast nuggets were packaged on 2022-09-09, 2022-11-14, and 2022-11-24 and sold in 4-kilogram packages. The St-Hubert brand chicken breast nuggets were sold in 600-gram packages with Best Before dates of 2024 MR 12 and 2024 JL 01. The recall also affects St-Hubert brand products featuring UPC 0 66701 01109 7. The recalled products were sold in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.

The CFIA gave the recall a Class 2 classification. This classification means that "there is a moderate risk that consuming the food may lead to short-term or non-life threatening health problems." The CFIA did not say if there have been any injuries are adverse reactions reported in relation to the recalled chicken nuggets, though it did advise in its recall notice that these products should not be used, sold, served, or distributed. The CFIA notes that once a recall is issued, "it is the responsibility of industry to remove it from the marketplace immediately," adding that it "conducts effectiveness checks to verify that unsafe food has been effectively removed from the marketplace... If a recalling firm is unwilling to remove the food from sale and appropriately dispose of it, the CFIA may seize and detain the food." After this, the CFIA "continues to work with the processor, manufacturer or importer to ensure that any problems that led to the recall are resolved."

Unfortunately for Canadian consumers, Olymel's recall is just the latest recall to hit the market. On Jan. 16, La Vache à Maillotte Mélo-Dieux – Surface-ripened soft cheese was recalled due to potential listeria contamination. The recall affects those cheeses that were sold in Quebec, and may have been distributed in other provinces and territories, and feature codes R 615 and 22FE2023. Just two days earlier, the CFIA alerted consumers to a recall of Le Cendré de Notre-Dame's Semi-soft Surface-ripened Cheese. The recall was also issued due to listeria contamination.