Alas, Nearly 60,000 Pounds Of Chicken Nuggets Have Been Recalled

In a stroke of bad luck for fans of frozen processed cooked meat nubbins, the USDA announced on Sunday it is recalling right around 60,000 pounds of chicken breast nuggets due to the possible presence of "flexible rubber material."

As reported by USA Today, the nuggets were made by the Pilgrim's Pride Corporation and are sold as four-pound bags labeled "Pilgrim's Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Nuggets," with a "lot code of 0127 and establishment number 'P-20728'" printed on the packaging. It's worth noting that this is not a national recall, and potentially contaminated nuggets have only been distributed to four states: Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Texas.

With recalls like this, it can be hard to get a feel for just how broad the impact is. After all, the National Chicken Council says that in 2019 the United States produced 9.2 billion broiler chickens, weighing a collective 58.3 billion pounds (pre-butchering). Compared to that, 60,000 pounds of golden brown childhood nostalgia fragments doesn't sound too bad.

Consider this, though: 60,000 pounds of chicken nuggets sold in four-pound bags is 15,000 bags, a not insignificant number. That many pounds of chicken nuggets is also equal in weight to around 4.5 fully grown African elephants, which as you know is the standard comparative unit of measurement for large volumes of any type of food. That's a lot of elephants!