That public health alert about Walmart chicken nuggets? Never mind, USDA says
The USDA public health alert issued last week concerning Walmart’s Great Value Dino Shaped Chicken Nuggets was retracted by the federal agency Monday night.
Wednesday’s alert was based on testing by the New York State Department of Public Health “that indicated elevated trace levels of lead,” the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service explained in its retraction notice. “Because this product is commonly consumed by children, FSIS issued the alert to inform consumers of a potential risk.”
But New York and manufacturer Dorada Foods performed more testing on the lot already tested and other lots.
“All follow‑up testing, including testing of the original lot, found no elevated levels of lead in the product,” the USDA said. “FSIS subsequently reviewed the underlying laboratory data in coordination with the New York State Department of Health and determined that the initial result was a false positive, caused by sporadic lead contamination at the laboratory during analysis, not contamination of the product itself.
“Follow up testing confirmed no elevated levels of lead were present in any of the products tested.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 8:00 AM with the headline "That public health alert about Walmart chicken nuggets? Never mind, USDA says."
