Creative Food Processing, located in Santa Clara, California, has recalled 1,941lb of raw chicken products due to an issue of mislabeling "undeclared allergens". The company failed to disclose "wheat", a known allergen, on the product label.
This is a raw chicken, fresh, marinated meat (Kebab) product.
The product involved is described as:
The products were distributed to retail stores throughout California. Here is the product label, front, and back.
The USDA says to throw the product away. That said, if you don't have wheat allergies then you may wonder what the issue is. Concerns can be directed to the company at:
Ananya Dasgupta Director of Operations CalPerf Inc. [email protected]
I continue to have serious concerns about food waste in many of these food recalls. This recall probably involved the raising and killing of 300 to 650 birds (I don't know the actual number but at an average of 3lbs a bird). If the meat was tainted with a dangerous bacteria of some sort, then I fully understand the need to find and destroy the food. According to Heath.usnews.com, about 1% of the U.S. population has a problem with wheat sensitivity.
I understand that stores need to take affected products off the shelf. But why throw it away? The food could be donated (with a new, applied label) saying it contains wheat. Let people who don't have an issue eat the food. Give it away, don't waste it.
Further, don't inform people to throw this food away unless they have an issue with that allergen in their family. We throw away far too much perfectly safe, healthful food based on confusing "best-by" date labeling. Read more about Food Expiration Dates here.