Tyson Foods’ recent recall of nearly 12 million pounds of chicken strip products should not have any meaningful impact on the company’s financial picture during the third quarter of its 2019 fiscal year, Tyson’s chief financial officer (CFO) said.
Tyson Foods issued the recall of 11,829,517 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat chicken strip products due to concerns about possible contamination of extraneous materials, specifically metal. The recall announcement, made on May 4, represented an expansion of a prior recall of Tyson Foods products produced at the company’s facility in Rogers, Arkansas, in which the products were recalled for the same reason. More than 69,000 pounds of chicken strips were affected in that earlier recall.
Two days later, Tyson Foods CEO Noel White and CFO Stewart Glindinning hosted a conference call with reporters. That call was scheduled to coincide with the release of the financial results of the second quarter of its fiscal year. However, several questions about the recall came up.
One reporter asked about the recall’s possible impact on the results of Tyson’s third quarter, which began on March 31.
Glindinning replied: “At this point in time, it's not clear what if any financial impact we'll take. We assess it as not being material.”
White addressed a question regarding whether something had changed with Tyson’s food safety protocols that might have led to the recall.
“There has been absolutely no change,” said White. “"Food safety and the quality of our products are paramount to us. The reason we did expand the scope of the recall was in the interest to make sure that all of our products that are in the marketplace are safe and we have the confidence that they are delivering the quality that we expect them to."
A chart showing the recalled Tyson Foods items appears below.
