Recently discovered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Hormel Foods Corporation was found to have contaminants in their ready to eat chicken on Oct. 25, 2025. The company is currently recalling 4.87 million pounds of chicken for being contaminated with metal.
“I think it’s disgusting they had to waste so much food for a mistake that could have been prevented,” said freshmen Emi Bakle.
The metal is believed to have entered the chicken through a converter belt incident. Hormel’s chicken products were sold nationwide and now are at risk of injuring the buyers and consumers.
“I think it’s horrible and honestly worrying to have this metal in chicken,” said freshman Margret Flores.
Businesses are instructed not to serve or consume any of the chicken products. Recalled cases include products with the item code “65009”, “77531”, “46750”, “86206” and “134394” printed on the label. It is highly recommended to dispose of any products with recalled item codes printed on them.
“I’m very disappointed in our food industry for letting metal contaminate our chicken nuggets,” said freshman Hailey Culbert.
While the metal in the Hormel chicken may be surprising, it’s not the first time an incident like this has happened.
Another company, Tyson Foods Inc, is another producer of ready-to-eat and frozen chicken goods. The company has had a few issues in the past with metal in their chicken over the years with the most recent one occurring in 2023. The company had to recall 30,000 pounds of frozen, fully cooked dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets called “Fun Nuggets.”
The Hormel recalled products were only sold to hotels, restaurants and other institutions, not to customers in grocery stores. In the future it is hoped to have more preventive measures to keep another incident like this from happening.
Preventive measures may include hazard analysis and control points as well as proper employee training and hygiene practices. With these precautions in place, it is hopeful that future issues will be avoided.
