We now know how big the glass shards may have been, and how great of a risk the FDA considers this event.
The Trader Joe’s fried rice recall originally announced March 3 was a heartbreaker that just kept expanding from a reported 3 million pounds of product to more than 37 million pounds. The report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that week indicated that Kroger was also affected, as were rice, noodles, and dumplings sold at other retailers, possibly including Target and Walmart, as well as retailers in Canada.
After the initial recall announcement suggested glass had made its way into product, it was reported that somehow that glass had accompanied carrots that are part of the recipes.
Today, we officially know more. On a total of 11 recalled products, we now know the size of that glass: an FDA report emailed this weekend revealed “Foreign objects are glass varying in size from 1-3cm long and 2-4mm wide.” A common object for comparison in centimeter and millimeter dimensions might be something close to the size of a grain of rice.
Also worth noting is that earlier reports cited Trader Joe’s frozen chicken fried rice as part of the recall, but the newest FDA report lists only their Vegetable Fried Rice, and Trader Joe’s Japanese Style Fried Rice with Edamame, Tofu, and Hijiki Seaweed. The full list of products from the March 20 FDA update are as follows:
Trader Joe’s
- Japanese Style Fried Rice with Edamame, Tofu & Hijiki Seaweed — SKU 097908, UPC 00979085
- Vegetable Fried Rice — UPC 00521482
Ajinomoto
- Teppanyaki Style Vegetable Fried Rice — H-0593-2026
- Japanese-Style Vegetable Fried Rice (with hijiki seaweed, fried tofu & edamame) — H-0594-2026
- Golden Tiger Vegetable Fried Rice — H-0595-2026
- Ling Ling Restaurant Style Fried Rice Savory Vegetable — UPC 010878810915
- Tai Pei Shrimp Fried Rice — H-0597-2026
- Green Gyoza Vegetable & Edamame Dumplings (12ct.) — H-0599-2026
- Vegetable Gyoza Dumplings 8.92oz (12ct.) — UPC 071757055483
- Vegetable Gyoza Dumplings 24.7oz — UPC 071757010109
Kroger
- Chinese Inspiration Vegetable Fried Rice — UPC 011110041623
A final worthwhile detail from the FDA update is that the agency has dubbed this a Class II recall—notably, not their highest risk level. A Class II recall signifies “a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”
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