There’s a public health alert for an item sold only at Publix. What you should know
The USDA posted a public health alert for a ready-to-cook dish that went to Publix distribution centers in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
The problem is with Apron’s Ready to Cook Meal for One Sun-Dried Tomato & Cheese-Stuffed Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Potatoes dish. Or, rather, the problem is with the label, which might be missing the cooking instructions and ingredients list.
That creates a two-pronged problem. For proper food safety, this dish needs to be cooked until the internal temperature is 165 degrees, which is why the missing instructions say to preheat the oven to 375 degrees and cook the dish for 40 to 45 minutes.
The second problem: Without the ingredient list, consumers don’t know the dish contains soy and milk, undeclared allergens. Not a problem for most people, but a possibly serious food allergy danger for those with a soy allergy or dairy allergy.
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“The problem was discovered when the establishment notified (Food Safety and Inspection Service) that the product was inadvertently misbranded when a printer did not place the bottom label on the product packaging,” the USDA alert said.
This covers products with a use by date of 2/15/2023 (Wednesday) and with the establishment no. P-48176 in the USDA mark of inspection. The USDA issued the alert instead of a recall because the dish is no longer available for sale, but might be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers.
This story was originally published February 15, 2023 at 1:02 PM.
