WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON – Perdue Foods LLC, a Perry, Ga. establishment, is recalling approximately 167,171 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat chicken breast nugget and tender products that may be contaminated with foreign material, specifically metal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Aug. 16.
The frozen, ready-to-eat chicken breast nugget and tender items were produced on March 23, 2024. The following products are subject to recall:
- 22-oz. (1.38-lbs.) vacuum-sealed plastic packages containing “PERDUE Simply Smart ORGANICS Breaded CHICKEN BREAST NUGGETS” with Best If Used By date of “03 23 25” represented on the back of the package.
- 29-oz. (1.81-lbs.) vacuum-sealed plastic packages containing “PERDUE CHICKEN BREAST TENDERS with Best If Used By date of “03 23 25” represented on the back of the package.
- 22-oz. (1.38-lbs.) vacuum-sealed packages containing “BUTCHERBOX Organic Chicken Breast Nuggets” with Best If Used By date of “03 23 25” represented on the back of the package.
The products subject to recall bear establishment number “P-33944” on the back of the package. These items were shipped to retail locations nationwide and sold online directly to consumers.
The problem was discovered after the firm received consumer complaints about metal wire embedded in the product and notified FSIS of the issue.
There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.
FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website at www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls.
Consumers with questions about the recall can contact Perdue Consumer Care at 1-866-866-3703. Members of the media with questions about the recall can contact Andrea Staub, Senior Vice President, Perdue Foods, at 443-493-3522 or andrea.staub@perdue.com.
Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or send a question via email to MPHotline@usda.gov. For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information recent as of 8-20-2024 at 12 p.m.
2024 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker – https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2024)
- Total Mass Shootings: 409
- Total Dead: 490
- Total Wounded: 1702
- Shootings Per Day: 1.76
- Days Reached in Year 2024 as of August 20: 233
MIDDLE EAST
GAZA NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE
UN Secretary-General António Guterres is closely following negotiations in Doha focused on trying to end the war in Gaza, where the situation continues to remain catastrophic after more than 10 months of unrelenting war.
The UN chief’s Spokesperson told journalists at the regular press briefing in New York on Aug. 19 that Mr. Guterres had spoken to the Prime Minister of Qatar the previous day.
“He was briefed on the state of the situation, and he will be staying in close touch and informed,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.
The talks, backed by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, are expected to resume on Wednesday or Thursday in Cairo, following a two-day meeting involving the three nations and Israel in Doha last week.
“The Secretary-General very much hopes that all the parties involved will find the political courage, the political will to come to an agreement for the sake of the people of Gaza, for the sake of the people of Israel, for the sake of the hostages,” Mr. Dujarric added.
The already catastrophic situation in Gaza, is worsening amid repeated waves of displacement, combined with overcrowding, insecurity, crumbling infrastructure, active hostilities and limited services, the UN Spokesperson said.
Gaza has been under an intense Israeli military offensive since the brutal October 7th terror attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on communities in southern Israel that left some 1,200 dead and more than 200 taken hostage.
As of August 9, 115 hostages remain captive, including some declared dead and whose remains are still in Gaza.
The onslaught has claimed the lives of over 40,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children and injured more than 92,000, according to the Gazan health ministry. In addition, close to 90 per cent of the population has been displaced – many forced to move several times.
“OCHA (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) warns that the ongoing hostilities, constant evacuation orders, and severe shortages of essential supplies are making it increasingly difficult for displaced families to access basic services at their place of arrival,” Mr. Dujarric said.
He added that since October last year, 86 percent of the Gaza Strip – about 314 square kilometers – has been placed under evacuation orders.
“As you may know, Gaza’s population is increasingly concentrated in a zone designated by Israeli authorities in Al Mawasi, where Palestinians have been told to go,” he said, noting that according to OCHA, the density of the area has surged to between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometer, compared to an estimated 1,200 people prior to the war.
Severe shortages of fuel and medical supplies continue to disrupt the functionality of remaining hospitals and primary healthcare centers, particularly in northern Gaza, OCHA reported in a humanitarian bulletin.
It cited an announcement by the Director of the Al Awda Hospital in northern Gaza that all surgeries had been postponed and an appeal made for urgent fuel supplies to avert further deaths at the facility.
Conditions are equally critical at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, where fuel and medical supply shortages are reportedly threatening critical functions, OCHA noted, adding that the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners were working on getting fuel to these facilities.
