Gorton's Recall Claim: Gorton's fish fillets have been recalled due to reports that pills were found in some of them. Status: True. Example: [Collected via e-mail, February 2008] Please read my warning below and take it VERY SERIOUSLY. This occurred to me, Tracy Rowan and my children today, February 24, 2008. This afternoon my nine year old daughter, my 10 year old son and I were eating some of the above referenced fish fillets. While chewing, I bit down on something hard. Thinking it was a fish bone I pulled it out of my mouth. To my surprise it was a PILL (it was whole). My daughter was sitting nearby and I told her to stop eating her fish, as I was warning her, she said "Mom I have one too, and proceeded to pull another whole PILL out of her mouth. They were the exact same size and shape. At this point we ran down the hall yelling for my son to not eat anymore of the fish. He said he had already bitten something hard, it tasted bitter so he spit out the fish onto his plate. I smashed up the other fillet on my son's plate and left the other two fillets on my daughter and my plate untouched. I immediately contacted the customer service number of the Gorton's box. I was redirected via their phone message to another number to report safety concerns. I spoke with a young lady who took down my information, told me to retain the product packaging and the pills, provided me with a reference number and then proceeded to tell me that someone would call me on Monday. I expressed my concern that there might be other tainted boxes of fillets and she simply reiterated that someone would call me on Monday. I contacted my local grocery store (Giant Foods, in Shrewsbury, PA) and advised them of the situation. They took down the barcode number and assured me they would be pulling the product immediately. KUDOS to Giant for acting so quickly. Concerned that the pills might have been coated with something, I called back Gorton's, expressed my concern and requested her opinion on whether or not it would be prudent to head for the emergency room. Her advice was to wait for a reaction, Astonished I replied "That might be too late, don't you think?" Her reply was to do whatever I felt necessary. Off to York Hospital we went (with fish fillets, pills, and box in hand), the emergency room was standing room only, so we left and went to Memorial Hospital. The nurses were unable to identify the pills, as there were no visible markings (numbers, etc as on prescription or over-the-counter medicines). They were unsure if the pills ever had markings or if the moisture and subsequent microwave cooking of the fish had melted them away. They took our vital signs and requested we sit in the waiting room with a request to let them know if any of us starting feel "different," or ill. Three hours later, after taking our vitals once again, and no signs of any adverse affects, we were released and advised to call them if our condition changed. In addition, we were told to contact our Police On the way home, we stopped at the Southern York County Police Department. After relaying the situation, I was advised that there is no criminal code on the books for them to act on. I asked her if we had been hospitalized and or died if they would have had one, and the officers advised yes. I was given a phone number to the PA Dept. of Agriculture as they would be the agency to contact to investigate the situation. I have left a voice mail for the Chief of the Laboratory Division. If you have any of the above product in your freezer, check it for foreign objects, take it back to your local store for a refund (with an explanation was to why and the reference number of the complaint, see below), or just throw it away. The information on the product is: Product: Gorton's 6 Crispy Battered Fish Fillets - Bright Yellow Box Barcode: 4440015770 Lot number (imprinted on top of box): 7289G1 Best if Used by April 2009 The reference number provided by Gorton's for the complaint I filed is 115821378 Tracy Lee Rowan Origins: In February 2008, Tracy Rowan of New Freedom, Pennsylvania, reported finding a pill in her microwaved serving of Gorton's Fish Fillets, as did both her son and daughter in their servings. Subsequently, the Rowans were examined at an emergency room and reported the incident to local police. None of the three has become ill. While the exact nature of those tablets has yet to be established (a lab is working on that question, with results expected around 3 March 2008), Rowan described the pills as beige and aspirin-sized. In reaction to this reported find, Gorton's has announced a recall of its 11.4 oz packages of 6 Crispy Battered Fish Fillets that bear UPC code of 44400 - 15770, a "Best if Used by Date" of April 2009, and a manufacturing code (embossed on the side of the package) of 7289G1. The product, says the company, "may contain foreign material." Approximately 1,000 cases of frozen fish are being recalled. The suspect boxes were vended in retail stores in Alabama, Delaware, California, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Whether the pills actually came from a package of Gorton's fish fillets, and (if so) whether they were put into the product during the manufacturing/packing process or afterwards has yet to be determined. Gorton's, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating, but the company says it knows of no other instances of pills being found in its fillets by consumers. Those seeking refunds are instructed to first discard the fish fillets, then mail their empty packages to the following address: Gorton's Recall Center PO Box 6075 Englewood, NJ 07631-0075 Last updated: 1 March 2008 The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/gortons.asp Urban Legends Reference Pages (c) 1995-2008 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson This material may not be reproduced without permission. ---------------------------------------------- Sources: Scolforo, Mark. "Gorton's Recalls Frozen Fish After Pennsylvania Woman Reports Finding Pills in Food." Associated Press. 1 March 2008. Another List
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