Total recall for Kronfågel chicken

Swedish poultry company Kronfågel announced on Friday it was recalling all of its frozen chicken products following four new reports of glass in Kronfågel frozen chicken packages.

• More glass found in Swedish chicken (26 Mar 09)

The new reports come from frozen products other than those recalled on Tuesday, according to the company.

As a result, Kronfågel has now decided to recall all frozen chicken products sold under the Kronfågel label, the company said in a statement.

The new glass finds came in Tvååker on Sweden’s west coast, Sjöbo in the south, Boden in the north, and Skoghall in central Sweden.

Two of the reports involved frozen whole chickens, while the other glass bits were found in packages of frozen drumsticks.

The company has yet to determine whether the glass found its way into Kronfågel products during production or by mistake in stores or the homes of consumers.

Thus, the company has decided to recall its entire line of frozen chicken products.

“We are extremely concerned that someone may be injured. What has happened is very unfortunate of our consumers and our customers, Kronfågel employees, our suppliers, and the entire industry,” said Lantmännen Kronfågel CEO Jan Henriksen in a statement.

He added that the company is devoting all of its resources to determining what happened.

“With our forceful recall, we now have time to get to the bottom of the problem without worrying about there being glass in more frozen chicken,” said Henriksen.

The complaints will be investigated by local police in each area, although it’s possible that each case will later be examined by each and every local police department.

“At this point, we aren’t investigating the new cases,” said Sörmland police spokesperson Lars Franzell to the TT news agency.

He added that police still do not know how the pieces of glass got into the chicken packages.

“We don’t have any concrete suspicions directed at any particular person,” he said.

Police haven’t ruled out that the people behind the new cases were inspired by the earlier reports and that it’s possible that none of the cases are connected.

So far, 12 people from different areas around the country have found glass in chicken from Kronfågel.

Sweden’s security police, Säpo, have yet to be been called into the investigation, although the possibility has been discussed among the Sörmland police.

“If we are asked to assist the Sörmland police who are now investigating the discovery of glass, we’ll make a decision,” said Säpo’s Anders Tagesson to TT.

When food companies suffer from suspected sabotage which threatens many people, it is considered a national security threat and Säpo is often called in to assist.

Other chicken producers are also concerned about how glass found in chicken products many affect consumers.

Jimmy Samuelsson, head of Guldfågel AB, doesn’t think that whoever is behind the suspected sabotage is out to damage Sweden’s poultry industry.

“It’s probably sabotage, but I don’t think it’s directed at a single company or the whole industry,” he said.


Below is a list of the Kronfågel products which have been recalled:

Kronkyckling fryst
Partyvingar (1,500 g)
Kyckling innerfilé (700 g)
Kycklingfilé, 1 kg and 2 kg
Chicky Pack, kycklingfilé
Kyckling lårfilé
Kycklingvingar
Kycklinglår
Kycklingben
Kycklingklubba
Kycklinglever