Starbucks pulled a newly introduced breakfast chicken sandwich from its stores Friday, claiming that it did not meet its quality standards.
According to the Seattle-based company, it issued a voluntary stop sell for its egg sandwich, maple butter and chicken sandwiches on June 26. Starbucks denied that any claims that the item caused an illness are false.
Social media reports claim that the sandwich caused some people to become sick. Five people claimed that the sandwich caused them to feel sick, according to iwaspoisoned.com. This crowdsourced website is dedicated tracking foodborne illness outbreaks.
Starbucks stated in a statement that the quality issue identified by Starbucks wouldn’t lead to foodborne illness. Any reports linking the stop sale of products to illness are incorrect.
Starbucks stated that the agency has not yet issued a recall. The item was not included in the agency’s database Friday afternoon.
Starbucks stated that removing food products due to quality issues was not uncommon or newsworthy and that it was done with “a lot of caution.”
Bryan Hitchcock, vice president of the Institute of Food Technologists, Chicago, stated by email that Starbucks’ swift response to remove an offer that wasn’t up to its standards was “commendable.”
Hitchcock stated that there are many aspects to ensure food safety at the point of purchase.
He stated that food safety is key to ensuring food is properly prepared, stored, handled and reheated.
Starbucks claimed that the sandwich was prepared, frozen, shipped and then reheated at participating locations. This could prevent food-borne illnesses.
It was launched alongside seasonal beverages on June 21st, and was removed from shelves five days later. This latecomer is in response to the success of Popeyes’ chicken sandwich wars in fast food restaurants and fast casual eateries.
Restaurant Dive, an industry publication, reported that the sandwich is Starbucks’ first real chicken sandwich. The rollout of the sandwich was part a Starbucks revenue strategy that encourages customers to order food.
CFO Rachel Ruggeri, who boasted about a 25% increase in food sales during a May quarter-end earnings call, described the first three months 2022 as “another record breaking quarter of food.”
Starbucks has been focusing on increasing lunch sales since at least 2017. It introduced a temporary Mercato menu in hundreds of stores throughout the Chicago and Seattle regions that year.
