On March 3, Trader Joe’s recalled four frozen food products nationwide because they may have contained foreign material, specifically glass.
This recall was an expansion of a previous food safety issue from Feb. 20, when Trader Joe’s chicken fried rice was recalled for potential contamination. The new recall includes Trader Joe’s chicken fried rice, vegetable fried rice, Japanese-style fried rice and chicken shu mai.
According to Trader Joe’s website, if customers have any of the recalled products and the item(s) fall between a certain best-by date, they should discard the product or return it to a Trader Joe’s store for a full refund.
Nakia Rohde, a public relations manager for Trader Joe’s, gave a statement on how the company is handling the recall.
“We voluntarily take action quickly, aggressively investigating potential problems and removing the product from sale if there is any doubt about its safety or quality,” she said.
Rohde said Trader Joe’s goes above and beyond the requirements of communicating a recall to customers by sharing the news through in-store signs, on Trader Joe’s website and through email alerts.
“With more than five decades of experience working directly with the producers of our products, we stand by our proactive practices and continually improve our food safety processes,” Rohde said. “We take these matters seriously — personally, even, as our families eat and drink TJ's products, too.”
Lizzy Cannon is a student at BYU who does most of her grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s.
Cannon said the recall of several frozen food products does not deter her from shopping at Trader Joe’s, but it does disappoint her.
“I feel like they’re organic, they’re healthy, like, I would assume that when making their foods and their products, they would be careful about things,” Cannon said. “I mean, pieces of glass would be something that we should be careful about.”
Bliss McLoughlin, another BYU student who shops at Trader Joe’s, had more apathetic feelings towards the recall.
“Worse things have happened at other places,” he said.
McLoughlin said he will continue to shop at Trader Joe’s because of its healthier, cheaper variety of groceries, despite the recent recall of some products.