Scary, pennsylvania, top, fillet, fish, food, gortons, recalls

Gorton's Recalls Fish After Consumer Finds Pills Inside

Gorton's has issued a recall of some frozen fish fillets after they confirmed that a consumer found pills inside the product.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Gorton's said it ordered the recall as a precaution while a laboratory conducts tests to determine the nature of the pills. Those tests should be complete early next week.

"Obviously product alteration is a very serious matter," said Jud Reis, vice president of marketing for the Gloucester, Mass., company. "We are conducting a full investigation into the source of the problem."

The recall is for Gorton's Six Crispy Battered Fish Fillets weighing 11.4 ounces. The UPC is 44400157770, with a date code of 7289G1 and a best-if-used-by date of April 2009. The fish also was sent to Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Consumers who purchased the fish may call Gorton's at 800-896-9479.

The family that found the pills inside their fish did not become ill, but the FBI and FDA are now investigating the incident.

Southern Regional Police Chief James Childs said that, on Friday, he received a call from the FBI and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"They have become the lead investigators," Childs said.

Childs forwarded them copies of his department's report on how Tracy Rowan and her daughter found items they believed were pills inside two Gorton's fish fillets they were eating on Feb. 24.

Rowan's son, who was also eating a fillet, tasted something hard and bitter and spit it out, Rowan said.

Scary! If this had happened to us, we would not have behaved rationally. Someone would have had to clock us over the head with a frying pan and drag us off to be checked out by the hospital.

Fish recalled after Pa. woman finds pills in it [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Feds take pill-in-fillet case [Evening Sun]

8:39 AM on Mon Mar 3 2008
By Meg Marco
3,505 views
24 comments

Comments

Elvisisdead at 08:46 AM on 03/03/08
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Some folks might pay extra for this....
MDSasquatch at 08:48 AM on 03/03/08
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sounds like marketing efforts for some sort of newfangled PEZ dispenser
backbroken at 08:59 AM on 03/03/08
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I think someone at the fish farm did not understand the proper method for administering antibiotics to the fish.

I guess the new Gorton's slogan will be "Trusted since March 2008."
ThinkerTDM at 09:00 AM on 03/03/08
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Did you think fish had high omega 3's on their own? They go to GNC too, you know.
apotheosis at 09:14 AM on 03/03/08
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While not directly named as a suspect, Mrs. Paul is considered a "person of interest" to authorities.
Rectilinear Propagation at 09:16 AM on 03/03/08
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Connectedness Index: 66

What are the chances of this being accidental? Who's taking their blood pressure medication while leaning over the machinery?
Rectilinear Propagation at 09:18 AM on 03/03/08
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Connectedness Index: 66

@backbroken: Too soon. Nobody is trusting their product until they say they've caught who did it and/or claim they can prevent it from happening again.

Maybe June 2008.
bohemian at 09:40 AM on 03/03/08
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Ick. Where are these manufactured?
ninabi at 10:03 AM on 03/03/08
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With my luck, I'd get the fish with the laxative pills instead of the hallucinogenics.
ElizabethD at 10:05 AM on 03/03/08
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Connectedness Index: 16

As if eating frozen fish fillets isn't punishment enough....
Lo-Pan at 10:21 AM on 03/03/08
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That's where my shipment...I mean what kind of person would put pills in fish.

Thank god it wasn't viagra.
The Great Aussie Evil at 10:23 AM on 03/03/08
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@ElizabethD: I think you have to heat them first.
kimsama at 10:28 AM on 03/03/08
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Connectedness Index: 100

Gorton's, Trusted from 1849 to 2007
Nenne at 10:39 AM on 03/03/08
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Well, I bought 2 packs of their fish b/c they were buy one get one free. Tasting them was enough for me to not ever buy Gorton's fish fillets again.
elijah_dukes_mayonnaise at 10:54 AM on 03/03/08
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The Gorton's Fisherman needs to meet Betty Ford.
parad0x360 at 10:54 AM on 03/03/08
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I hope they were good pills...

Im sure this was an accident. Someone probably dropped some and they got in with the food and just didnt tell anyone because they feared their job. Im sure its not some kid of urban terrorist trying to get Gordon to stop is terrible fishing ways!

Im glad they caught it and they arent hiding it. Cant wait for more details.
darkened at 11:15 AM on 03/03/08
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I'd laugh if the pills were vitamin c tablets and they actually increased the nutritional value of the fish
Ghede at 12:17 PM on 03/03/08
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@darkened: I was thinking the same thing, only with partially dissolved Flintstones chewable vitamins.
nursetim at 01:01 PM on 03/03/08
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I blame Big Pharma
camille_javal at 01:22 PM on 03/03/08
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So this is one family (as I understand from the linked articles)? It smacks of the finger-in-Wendy's-chili scam.
loueloui at 02:45 PM on 03/03/08
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Hmm, So that's Captain Hazelwood on the box then?
MYarms at 03:55 PM on 03/03/08
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I don't know what surprises me more: the fact that someone found pills inside of the fish or the fact that the brand name is actually Gorton's. All my life I had thought it was Gordon's.
wouldacoulda13 at 03:26 PM on 03/05/08
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Amazing. I saw this story on a local news channel. It showed the mother holding up the filet with the pills next to it. They were large circular pills. The woman holding the bag had a smile on her face. She found her pot of gold.
Spooty at 09:12 AM on 06/23/08
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Followup: One of the kids did it!
See: [www.snopes.com]