Illness concerns prompt Starbucks chicken sandwich recall

Starbucks quietly stopped sales of its recently introduced breakfast chicken sandwich following complaints of vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea on social media.

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(Starbucks)
(Starbucks)

Starbucks quietly stopped sales of its recently introduced breakfast chicken sandwich following complaints of vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea on social media.

One person’s TikTok video said, “Suing for the worst diarrhea of my life. I have been living in my bathroom for 2 days now.” Another wrote, “Had it last Wednesday… super sick… tested positive for campylobacter (food poisoning caused by raw chicken) Sunday.”

In addition, the website, iwaspoisoned.com, which tracks foodborne illness, logged five claims that the sandwich made customers feel ill, at least temporarily.

The breakfast offering was Starbucks first foray into the chicken sandwich wars. It featured fluffy eggs and a maple butter spread on a toasted oat biscuit roll with fried chicken. The Chicken, Maple Butter and Egg sandwich debuted on Starbucks menus on June 21, only to be removed five days later.

Starbucks calls it a quality issue

Employees were explicitly instructed to dispose of the product – and not to donate, sell or allow anyone to eat the item, according to the company.

The Seattle-based company said the seasonal item failed to meet the brand’s standards for quality but denied any claims that the item caused specific illness.

"We issued a voluntary stop sell and discard on the Chicken, Maple Butter and Egg Sandwich because the product didn't meet Starbucks quality standards. We are committed to a high level of quality in the products that we serve and always act with an abundance of caution whenever a product or quality issue is raised,” Starbucks said in a statement.

“This is not an FDA issued recall nor is it related to Salmonella or Listeria contamination. The quality issue that was identified by Starbucks would not lead to food borne illness and any reports linking the stop sale to illness are inaccurate.” 

The sandwich was properly cooked, frozen, shipped and then reheated at participating locations, the brand added.

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