Undercooked smoked chicken recalled

A brand of smoked chicken is being recalled because it may be undercooked.

Santa Rosa Foods is recalling its 1kg manuka-smoked chicken after discovering it "may appear to be undercooked," according to the Ministry for Primary Industries.

MPI said the chicken should not be eaten if it had the batch number 169052 and a best-before date of January 1, 2016.

"There have been no reports of illness, however any person concerned about their health should seek medical advice."

People who have bought the chicken can call 0800 736728 to get a full refund.

The recall does not affect any of the Christchurch brand's other products and the chicken is not exported.

The chicken has been sold at New World, Pak'n Save and Countdown supermarkets across New Zealand, and one Four Square store in Coopers Beach, Northland.

New World supermarkets that have sold the chicken are Albany, Birkenhead, Browns Bay, Mt Roskill, Remuera, Whakatane, New Plymouth and Masterton.

Pak'n Save stores are Wairau, Sylvia Park, Albany, Silverdale, Tamatea, Te Awamutu and Dunedin.

Countdown supermarkets are Onehunga, Mt Roskill, Massey, LynnMall, Sylvia Park, Mangere Mall, Whangarei, Waikanae, Amberley, Gore, Invercargill and Oamaru.

In a statement through a PR company, Santa Rosa chief executive John McWhirter apologised for the inconvenience to its customers and its retailers and said he was confident it would not happen again.

He said the risk to customers was extremely small, but the company decided to recall stock from the batch after concerns were raised that some of the chickens were not entirely cooked to the core.

All stock was removed from supermarket shelves within 24 hours and Mr McWhirter said this had happened in the New Zealand company's 25-year history.

"Our cooking equipment uses an internal thermometer to determine when the product is cooked, however, a one-off technical issue resulted in the chicken being slightly under cooked," he said.

This is the third time MPI has recalled a product in less than two weeks.

On Wednesday a popular brand of shaved ham was recalled due to fears of listeria.

The MPI recalled 200g family packs of Beehive shaved Champagne ham because it may contain the genus of listeria bacteria.

READ MORE: What you need to know about Beehive's recalled meat

And on December 4, Fruzio frozen berries were recalled after they were linked to four cases of Hepatitis A.

READ MORE: Frozen berries Hepatitis A contamination scare: What you need to know

MPI identified the berries as a potential source of the Hepatitis A contamination scare. The mix of blackberries and strawberries, imported from China, comes in 500g and 1kg bags.