Vanilla Almond Breeze Almond Milk Tainted with Cow’s Milk, FDA Says

A popular brand of almond milk has been in the news recently with claims that some of their vanilla flavored almond milk has been tainted with cow’s milk. Almond Breeze has recently recalled nearly 150,000 half-gallon containers of their Almond Breeze almond milk product for this reason.

Many people who drink Almond Breeze almond milk do so because of health reasons. They may be allergic to cow’s milk or they may prefer the health benefits of drinking almond milk. Regardless of the reason, consumers who purchase Almond Breeze almond milk believe they are getting a product free of cow’s milk.

Recently, however, manufacturer HP Hood recalled a large batch of vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk after discovering some of it was tainted with cow’s milk.

Almond Breeze Almond Milk Recall

On Aug. 2, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced, “HP Hood LLC is voluntarily recalling a limited number of half-gallon (1.89 L) cartons of refrigerated Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk because the product may contain milk, an allergen not listed on the label. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products.”

The Washington Post reports that 150,000 units of Almond Breeze almond milk have recently been recalled in 28 states due to a cow’s milk mix-up, and that this is less than 1 percent of all of the almond milk shipped by HP Hood in the last month.

HP Hood is located in Lynnfield, Mass., and handles the production of dairy brands Lactaid and Crowley as well as Almond Breeze. While Almond Breeze is not a dairy company, it is a brand of Blue Diamond Growers, an almond grower out of California.

The Post describes the way a representative of Almond Breeze explains the mishap. “Although the almond milk is processed on a separate line and filler and we confirmed that the allergen control protocol all standard validation testing was conducted in accordance with our allergen control program, this particular batch of almond milk was contaminated with one container of milk through an employee error.”

In essence, it has been reported that an employee made an error which, because Almond Breeze is processed in a plant that also processes cow’s milk, contaminated certain batches of the Almond Breeze almond milk.

The FDA says that the recall should only apply to the Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk product that has a use-by date of Sept. 2, 2018. The FDA urges consumers to identify the affected product by looking for the stamped information printed as:

USE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 – 20:48) H5 L1 51-4109
USE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 – 20:48) H5 L2 51-4109
USE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 – 20:48) H6 L1 51-4109
USE BY: SEP 02 18 (07:36 – 20:48) H6 L2 51-4109

The tainted Almond Breeze almond milk was sent to twenty-eight states including Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Join a Free Almond Milk Recall Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you purchased Vanilla Almond Breeze almond milk in one of the 28 states where the affected milk was sold, you may qualify to join this Almond Breeze almond milk recall class action lawsuit investigation.

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