Wayne Farms Expands Nationwide Recall on Pre-Cooked Chicken

If you picked up some ready-to-eat chicken at the grocery store recently, you may want to check the label. Turns out that some of those pre-cooked chicken breasts, weren't as precooked as they should be.

Decatur, Alabama-based Wayne Farms has expanded its nationwide recall of ready-to-eat chicken breast fillets because they may be undercooked, Food Safety News reports. This is particularly important news for Southerners, because those undercooked chicken breasts were shipped to retail locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Undercooked chicken can be contaminated with Campylobacter bacteria, Salmonella or Clostridium perfringens bacteria, which can lead to food poisoning. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that about one million people a year get sick from eating contaminated poultry.

The potentially undercooked ready-to-eat chicken breast fillet products that are subject to recall were produced between February 9 and April 30, 2022 and have establishment number "EST. 20214" on the case and packaging. View the labels here and check the USDA's site for production codes and more details.

According to the USDA, the government organization that runs recalls, the problem was discovered when a customer called them up to complain that the chicken product appeared to be undercooked. There haven't been any confirmed cases of sickness due to eating undercooked chicken products, but there is some concern that the Wayne Farms chicken products in question may be lurking in consumers' or restaurants' freezers or refrigerators. If you do find them in the fridge or freezer, throw them out or return them to the store.