Adding some colorful veggies to a dish is a fast and easy way to bring some zest and lots of helpful vitamins and minerals to any meal. Unfortunately, if you’re not picking the veggies out of the ground yourself, those tasty, healthy foods are subject to recalls just like anything else. In a new recall posted by the FDA, a company known as GK Foods is recalling nearly 200 cases of sliced peppers and onions because there might actually be plastic pieces mixed in with the veggies.
As the recall bulletin explains, GK Foods reveals that there may be pieces of blue plastic in the product bags. The recall doesn’t specifically state how this issue was discovered, but the company is recalling the entire batch of mixed veggies that may have been affected. That works out to 187 cases, but the recall doesn’t state how many actual bags of vegetables are in each case. In any event, it’s a whole bunch of veggies that need to be disposed of.
The product, which is sold as Le Fe Peppers & Onions, comes in 16oz bags with the batch number KR043021. The “best before” date on the packaging is March of 2023. The fact that the expiration date is two years from now means it’s likely that there are customers that bought these veggies and tossed them in their freezer, perhaps forgetting about them for months (or is that just me?).
The product is sold across multiple U.S. states “in the northeast USA only,” according to the company. No additional information regarding the specific states is included in the recall bulletin.
From the recall bulletin:
Derrick Reckord, President and CEO of GK Foods USA, owner of the La Fe brand, explained that the Voluntary Class 2 Recall has been initiated because there possibly could be small pieces of blue plastic in the product. If consumed, these plastic pieces could cause adverse health consequences. A Class 2 recall is issued when there is a remote probability of adverse health effects from the consumption of a product.
Mr. Reckord went on to say that there have been no reports of any adverse health issues associated with the affected product to date, and that GK Foods USA was recalling the entire batch out of an abundance of caution.
The fact that no adverse effects have been reported is obviously great news, but that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous to eat the recalled product. Consuming plastic, even in small pieces, can cause serious issues in your body, and if that plastic has sharp edges it could lead to damage to the lining of the stomach and other digestive problems.
The recall bulletin doesn’t state how the plastic ended up in the bags, but based on past recalls that mentioned plastic pieces, it is likely that a piece of plastic on a machine used during the manufacturing process broke, containing the batch with the blue plastic.
