This week's recalls: a vegetarian soup that wasn't, and five more to check for
Check this one first: a vegetarian soup that wasn’t
A 24-ounce cup of Whole Foods Market Kitchens Minestrone Soup says VEGETARIAN right on the label. Testing found shrimp in it instead. Kettle Cuisine, LLC is recalling 4,496 units (562 cases) at the FDA’s top severity, Class I, dated May 19. It shipped to Whole Foods stores across 18 states: Alabama, Connecticut, DC, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The cup reads Use by 05/27/26, Lot 1762181, recall number H-0941-2026.
This is a claim on the front of the cup, not just a missing line in the ingredient panel, telling both a shellfish-allergic household and a vegetarian one that they’re safe. Neither is true for a cup with this lot number. If minestrone from Whole Foods with a May 27 use-by date is in the fridge, check the lot before it gets anywhere near a bowl.
Two more from the FDA
Hometown Food Company’s Birch Benders Sweet Potato Pancake and Waffle Mix, the 12-ounce bag sold six to a case, doesn’t list egg on the label. It’s in there. Class I, dated May 20, 5,340 cases shipped to 18 states: AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MD, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OR, PA, TX, WA, WI. Lot 5265, Best if Used By Mar 24, 2027, recall number H-0903-2026.
Wilco Peanut Co recalled raw shelled peanuts (Runner type), sold in bulk poly tote bags and 50-kilogram poly bags, for an undeclared tree nut allergen. That’s a peanut supplier recalling peanuts over tree nut, not the peanut itself. It’s a large volume, 259,582 pounds, shipped to Texas, California, Illinois, and New York, plus two vessels already en route to Korea. Class I, dated May 18, recall number H-0906-2026, lot numbers 50520, 50647, 50519, 50521, 50522, 50777, 50748.
Canada and the UK
Canada (CFIA): El Mexicano brand Agua Fresca de Horchata Instant Horchata Drink, improperly declared milk, Class 2.
UK (FSA): Sunrise International Foods’ Shama Falooda Almond flavour drink, undeclared milk.
UK (FSA): Divilly Brothers No Added Nitrite Crumbed Ham, undeclared wheat (gluten).
The pattern this week
The soup is the one that breaks a promise beyond the ingredient panel: a product marketed as vegetarian that tested positive for shellfish fails two different households at once, the shellfish-allergic and the vegetarian, neither of whom had reason to read further. The peanut recall is the odd one out this week, a raw-peanut supplier pulling stock not for peanut but for tree nut, cross-contact turning up in a product built around a completely different allergy. Everything else here, egg riding along in a pancake mix, milk in a horchata drink and an almond-flavoured falooda, wheat in crumbed ham, is the ordinary failure: an ingredient that belonged on the label and wasn’t there.
Before you go
The recall notices, with photos and lot numbers, are linked on each product above. I run this sweep every week and post what an allergy household would actually want flagged.
Not medical advice. Every reaction is different, so follow the emergency action plan you built with your allergist; if you do not have one, that is the ask for your next visit. When a reaction is severe or you are not sure how bad it is, do not delay epinephrine, then call for help.