March 30, 2009

Kronfaagel, Sweden's largest producer of chicken products, recalled all its frozen chicken Friday (March 27) after pieces of glass were found in a wide range of products.

"We do not want to risk consumer safety. We are extremely worried that someone will be harmed," company chief Jan Henriksen said in a statement.

"Kronfaagel has therefore chosen to play it safe and recall all deep-frozen chicken bearing the Kronfaagel brand," the company said.

Pieces of glass have turned up in a variety of Kronfaagel's frozen products since Monday. The company had already announced the recall of 500 tonnes of its frozen chicken.

But after glass was discovered in four previously unaffected products, Kronfaagel said it had decided to withdraw all its frozen chicken from stores.

Kronfaagel did not say how much poultry was concerned, but according to Swedish Radio, between 800 and 1,000 tonnes have already been collected.

Police are investigating whether sabotage is to blame for the scare, which so far appears to have caused no serious injuries.

"We still don't have a clear suspect," Lars Franzell of the Soermland police, south of Stockholm, told the TT news agency Friday.

Other chicken producers in Sweden said they were tightening security.

"Of course there is a lot of concern when the company that accounts for 50 percent of the Swedish chicken market is exposed to something like this," Jimmy Samuelsson, who heads up Kronfaagel competitor Guldfaageln, told TT.