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Whole Foods recently received a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after issuing 32 food recalls due to undeclared allergens over the course of a year.
On Dec. 16, Whole Foods president and CEO John Mackey acquired a warning letter from the FDA over a concerning trend.
According to the FDA’s letter, Whole Foods recalled 32 food products between October 2019 and November 2020 due to undeclared allergens. These recalls reportedly followed similar issues from previous years.
“These recalls demonstrate that your corporation engaged in a pattern of receiving and offering for sale misbranded food products,” William A. Correll Jr., director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, wrote in the warning letter.
The FDA references several Whole Foods recalls, though the regulator noted there were numerous other recalls not listed in the warning letter.
In April 2020, Whole Foods reportedly emailed the FDA to initiate a recall of its Whole Foods Market Minestrone Soup due to the undeclared presence of milk allergens. According to the FDA, this mislabeling stemmed from Whole Foods’ internal labeling system, which wasn’t updated with the current ingredients of the products.
In December 2019, another Whole Foods Market product was recalled. This food recall affected Raspberry Cheesecake Italian Gelato, which was reportedly packaged without declaring the presence of eggs.
According to the FDA, this was caused by Whole Foods’ contract manufacturer packaging Butter Cookies & Sweet Cream Italian Gelato with the Raspberry Cheesecake Italian Gelato label.
More recently, in August 2020, Whole Foods recalled several individually sliced cheese products. These products were reportedly labeled without disclosing the presence of eggs. Whole Foods Market cheeses included in this recall were:
- El Trigal 12 Month Old Manchego
- El Trigal 6 Month Old Manchego
- Mitica Cordobes
- Artequeso Manchego 6 month Aged
- La Marquesa Herb Manchego Raw Milk — Aged 60 days or More
- Mitica La Dama Sagrada Raw Milk — Aged 60 Days or More
- Chimay Biere
- IL FORTETO Genovese Pesto
- Chimay Grand Cru
- Lactalis MIMOLETTE Aged 12 Months
- Mitica Mahon
- Agriform Piave Vecchi
Unfortunately, the list of Whole Foods food recalls continues to include 30+ recalls between October 2019 and November 2019. According to the FDA, this trend requires immediate action to correct.
The federal regulator noted these food recalls all stem from misbranded foods — i.e., foods that fail to declare all major allergens.
According to the FDA, accurately declaring all major allergens is required by the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act. Selling these “misbranded” food products reportedly violates this law. In the warning letter to Whole Foods, the FDA said the company is required to correct these violations immediately.
“You are responsible for investigating and determining the causes of the violations identified above and for preventing their recurrence or the occurrence of other violations,” the FDA warned in its letter. “Failure to promptly correct these violations may result in enforcement action by FDA without further notice, including seizure and/or injunction.”
Whole Foods has 15 working days to respond to the FDA in writing about how it is addressing these purported violations. If the company believes it has complied with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, it has the same time frame to justify this stance and provide supportive information.
Did you purchase products from Whole Foods which were involved in food recalls? Let us know in the comment section below.
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54 thoughts onWhole Foods Warned Over Its 30+ Recalls This Year
Add me please. A couple of years ago I had anaphylactic reaction to WF bread. I write this As I lay at the emergency room for anaphylactic reaction to their orange juice.