A packaging plant employee is being blamed for a food contamination problem that has led to a massive chicken recall.
The recall was announced over the weekend by the St. Cloud, Minnesota-based GNP Co., parent company of both brands, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which classified the health risk as "high," the most serious level applied to recalls by the agency.
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GNP notified FSIS that "sand and black soil were found in some of their products," the federal agency said in its statement, which added that there had not been any confirmed reports of adverse reactions from consuming the products.
The retail item being recalled is Just Bare Whole Chicken (UPC 024105594057), sold in four-pound poly-bags, with a use-by/freeze-by date stamp of 6/26/16. The product bears code P-322 inside the USDA mark of inspection.
"The affected product may be contaminated with extraneous foreign matter, and is linked to an isolated product tampering incident that occurred at the company's Cold Spring processing plant the week of June 6," GNP said in a statement.
"The individual responsible has been identified, their employment terminated, and the case turned over to law enforcement," the company said in an emailed statement. "Because the investigation is ongoing, GNP Company is not able to provide additional details about the case."