Check Your Freezer: Nearly 37 Million Pounds of Frozen Fried Rice Recalled Over Glass

If you keep a stash of frozen fried rice for those nights when cooking feels impossible, stop and check your freezer before dinner tonight. One of the biggest frozen-meal recalls in recent memory has quietly grown to nearly 37 million pounds, and the affected bags are exactly the kind of grab-and-heat food a lot of us lean on for a fast weeknight plate.

Here is what happened, who is affected, and the two-minute freezer check I’d do right now if I bought any frozen fried rice this past year.

What was recalled

Ajinomoto Foods North America first pulled about 3.4 million pounds of frozen chicken fried rice on February 19, 2026, after four consumer complaints about glass found in the product. On March 9 the company amended and expanded that recall to roughly 36,987,575 pounds of frozen chicken and pork fried rice, ramen, and shu mai dumpling products.

Investigators traced the likely source of the glass to a single ingredient: the carrots used across multiple products. That’s why the list of affected items ballooned so fast once they connected the dots.

The brands and dates to look for

The recall covers several brand names you may recognize from the frozen aisle:

Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice (the 20-oz bag that kicked off the original recall)
Kroger-brand frozen fried rice
Ajinomoto (including the Yakitori Chicken with Japanese-style fried rice multipacks)
Ling Ling and Tai Pei frozen entrees

The recalled items were produced between October 21, 2024 and February 26, 2026, and carry establishment numbers P-18356, P-18356B, or P-47971 inside the USDA inspection mark on the packaging. To be clear about one thing that’s tripped people up online: this recall involves Trader Joe’s and Kroger, not Costco. If you’ve seen “Costco fried rice recall” floating around, that’s a mix-up worth correcting.

The good news, for what it’s worth: as of the FSIS notice, there were no confirmed reports of injury from eating these products.

Your two-minute freezer check

Meal preppers, this one’s for us, because we’re the people most likely to have three bags buried under the frozen broccoli. Here’s the drill:

Pull out every bag or box of frozen fried rice, ramen, or shu mai you own.
Flip it over and find the small USDA inspection mark. If you see P-18356, P-18356B, or P-47971, set it aside.
Check the brand against the list above. If it matches, do not cook it or taste-test it.
Throw it away, or take it back to the store where you bought it for a refund.

FSIS is urging anyone with these products to not eat them. When glass is the concern, there’s no “just pick it out” — the whole bag goes.

The easy fix: make your own in about the same time

I’m not going to pretend homemade fried rice is as effortless as tearing open a bag. But it’s close, and a batch you cook yourself is portioned, cheaper per serving, and (obviously) glass-free. Cook a pot of rice on the weekend, spread it on a sheet pan to dry out in the fridge overnight, and you’re 10 minutes from dinner any night that week.

If you want a one-pan version that leans on pantry staples, my high-protein chicken and rice skillet scratches the same itch, and for something you can portion into containers, these meal prep teriyaki chicken bowls reheat beautifully all week.

Go check that freezer now. It’ll take you less time than preheating the oven.