A burrito bowl is rice topped with meat and other ingredients. The dish can be ordered in restaurants serving Mexican food or bought frozen in supermarkets for heating at home.
On 10 September, American discount store chain Target recalled frozen burrito bowls sold at its stores across the United States.
The US Food and Drug Administration said packs of Good & Gather’s frozen Southwest-Style Burrito Bowl Blend delivered to Target stores on 17 April were recalled for containing shrimp that was not declared on the product’s ingredient label, Connecticut Post reports.
The recall followed three consumer complaints on the mislabeling. Customers who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to shellfish run the risk of a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they were to consume the product, according to CT Post, citing the FDA’s public advisory.
Meanwhile, a customer returned a takeout burrito bowl he had bought for his partner from a drive-thru restaurant in Queensland, Australia on 29 August — not because the ready-to-eat meal contained shrimp and might have caused an allergy.
His partner, Stephanie Weston, told ABC News that when she was eating the minced beef burrito bowl, she spotted something different in it. It was not a shrimp but a button battery.
Weston called the poison hotline and was advised to go to a hospital if the source of the battery couldn’t be identified.
When her partner returned the unfinished burrito bowl, the store’s assistant manager explained the battery had come from a food-grade thermometer and offered a refund and two burrito vouchers as compensation, ABC reports.
The Guzman y Gomez store also acted on the incident by replacing the thermometer model, retraining its crew, and doing “additional checks of our equipment across all our restaurants,” according to ABC.
The director of the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit, Dr. Ruth Barker, advised anyone accidentally ingesting a button battery to call the poison hotline and get immediate medical advice.