The Biggest Chocolate Recalls In US History

We hate to think that anything could go wrong while making chocolatey sweets, but yes, even chocolate has problems. The details behind some of America's biggest chocolate recalls tell a flawed story, one that continues to expose the shortcomings of modern day food production, not only in the U.S. but worldwide. Issues or oversights stemming from inside chocolate factories have resulted in staggering amounts of dangerous chocolate products being removed from commercial distribution.

Can a few bites or sips of a chocolate treat really land people in the hospital? Absolutely. One of the biggest threats chocolate goods pose to consumers is the presence of undeclared allergens, specifically milk or nuts. These ingredients taste great with chocolate, but they also happen to be classified as major allergens by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). If a chocolate product's packaging doesn't include a warning for possible traces of certain allergens, it better not contain any.

Undeclared allergens, bacterial contamination, and other nefarious findings have kickstarted some significant chocolate and candy recalls in the U.S. Food manufacturers have an obligation to keep their customers safe, and it's up to either the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) or the FDA (or sometimes, both) to ensure mass-produced food and drink — including those made with chocolate — do not put the public's health at risk. The recalls on this list show a not-so-sweet side of the chocolate business.

Times have been tough for Clasen Quality Chocolate. The company began as a European bakery in Madison, Wisconsin in 1959 and grew into a huge chocolate coatings manufacturer, wholesaling its goods all over North America. Yet for Clasen, operating a chocolate business on a humongous scale has given way to some humongous recalls. In May 2024, a multi-product recall for potential salmonella contamination affected 4,383,201 pounds of chocolate, and became one of the biggest recalls of 2024. At the time of this writing, the recall remains ongoing.

The recall predominantly affected bulk batches of chocolate wafers, chocolate confectionary coating, and chocolate-flavored confectionary drops. Clasen unknowingly distributed the salmonella-tainted products in California, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington. Bulk tankers of recalled chocolate were implicated in the recall (Clasen launched its namesake trucking fleet in 2009), which contributed to the sheer weight of the situation. The recalled amount of Clasen milk chocolate-flavored confectionary coating alone made up for 2,667,280 pounds of the total recall. 

Perhaps even more shocking was the fact that the 2024 salmonella incident was Clasen's second multi-million-pound chocolate recall in just over a year. In January 2023, the company voluntarily recalled 2,235,990 pounds of wafers, confectionery coatings, and chocolate drops over product mislabeling. The chocolates, distributed in 12 states, contained traces of peanut residue not indicated on the packaging.

Nestlé is a longtime leader in the world's food and drink industry, and like many industry titans, it's well-versed in major product recalls. One of Nestlé's biggest recalls involved a beloved chocolate product: Toll House Cookie Dough. In August 2023, Nestlé initiated a voluntary recall of Toll House Cookie Dough Break and Bake Bars after receiving complaints from customers who found wood fragments inside.

The recall was limited to Break and Bake Bars and didn't affect any other Toll House products. Although Nestlé stressed that the number of complaints regarding the wood pieces was small, the recall it spawned totaled 147,816 pounds of product. Thankfully, no injuries were reported in the wake of the recall (just a "small number" of grossed-out customers). Yet this wasn't the first time Nestlé pulled mass quantities of Toll House Cookie Dough from U.S. stores.

In 2009, Nestlé Toll House Cookie Dough was behind a serious E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that spanned 30 states and sickened 77 people — 35 of whom had to be hospitalized. The outbreak prompted Nestlé to recall 3.6 million pounds of Toll House dough. Suspicions that the chocolate chips inside the dough were responsible for the contamination were eventually ruled out when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shifted the blame to raw flour instead.

Michigan-based grocery chain Meijer had some bad news in May 2023 regarding its dark chocolate almonds. Meijer's store brand Express Go Cup Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds and Frederik's Dark Chocolate Almonds were both recalled due to undeclared milk allergens. All sell-by date codes were included in Meijer's recall. A total of 81,042 units of Frederik's Dark Chocolate Almonds and 9,030 units of Meijer Express Go Cup Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds were removed from all Meijer and Meijer Express locations in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The recall's weight totaled 65,015 pounds.

Meijer explained the almonds were mislabeled because its supplier, Lamontagne Chocolate Corporation, changed the specifications of one of its products and did not notify Meijer. The FDA classifies milk as a major food allergen and all commercially sold products in the U.S. must have a warning label if milk is an ingredient. Moreover, a person who is allergic to dairy milk and consumes it unknowingly may experience anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction that can be deadly. This prompted the FDA to designate Meijer's recall as Class I — the most serious kind. Thankfully, no illnesses connected with this recall were reported.

Hiland Dairy took a very wrong approach to "clean eating" (or, in this case, drinking) with its chocolate milk — a mistake the company made more than once. Hiland was faced with a sobering situation in January 2021 after learning that kids had drunk half pints of its sanitizer-contaminated 1% chocolate milk at the hospital. SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City stated that 50 minor-aged patients in three different units drank from milk cartons partly filled with sanitizing liquid and 28 of them needed to be moved to the Oklahoma Children's Hospital for monitoring.

In-house testing of the 1% chocolate milk revealed that Synergex, a food-grade sanitizer, was in the product. Hiland promptly recalled 240,000 half-pint units of 1% chocolate milk to prevent more innocent people from downing the caustic chemicals. The milk was dispersed throughout the Oklahoma City Metro Area and Western Oklahoma, along with Dallas, San Antonio, and Tyler, Texas.

It was déjà vu for Hiland in April 2023. This time it was the fat-free chocolate milk that was filled with sanitizer. 301,800 half-pint units were recalled, amassing a total weight of 150,900 pounds. The only state implicated in the second coming of Hiland's chocolate milk recall was Texas.

Imported chocolate is one of life's luxuries ... unless it's filled with foodborne bacteria. In 2022, an international recall for Kinder chocolate made its way to the U.S. just in time for Easter. On April 7, 2022, Ferrero U.S.A. recalled Kinder Happy Moments Chocolate Assortment and Kinder Mix Chocolate Treats Baskets from the market. The treat boxes were potentially contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium, a salmonella serovar that sickened around 450 people across Europe.

The recalled chocolates were distributed to Costco's and BJ's Wholesale Club locations in California and Nevada and 14 Big Y stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts. They were processed in the same Ferrero-owned facility that over 180 Kinder other products recalled in Europe had come out of. European investigators traced the origin of the outbreak to a plant in Arlon, Belgium, where 7% of the world's Kinder chocolate is made. Testing within the facility detected salmonella bacteria inside the raw material stored in buttermilk tanks and on the buttermilk tanks themselves.

Kinder's huge international recall didn't cause as many illnesses in the U.S. as it did in other nations, but the domestic recall still accounted for 62,946 pounds of chocolate. Ferrero's financial losses in the wake of the recall were projected at over $60 million, and more than 200 cases of illness linked to the recall were in children.

On February 11, 2021, See's Candies (which was just months away from celebrating its 100th birthday) saw a large recall throw a wrench in the company's well-established operation. See's was busy preparing its stock for the upcoming Easter holiday, a time when its festive chocolate bunnies and foil-wrapped eggs would typically fly off store shelves. In 2021, a recall over salmonella concerns forced See's to scrap a major chunk of inventory for the season.

The recalling firm wasn't See's, it was Thompson Chocolate Company, a candy seller in Meriden, Connecticut with even more years in the chocolate trade than See's. Weeks after the recall was initiated, the FDA gave it a Class I designation — but See's never had to alert the public about the salmonella plaguing its chocolate candies. Instead, the contaminated lots were never distributed at all.

In order to prevent an Easter-themed salmonella outbreak, thousands of See's chocolate rabbits and eggs were held at a facility in California. The FDA was alerted well before the seasonal chocolates were expected to hit stores so consumers never got the chance to be put in danger by them. The salmonella-infected batches of See's Candies weighed in at 49,536 pounds.

Tillamook County Creamery doesn't like to mess around with its respected dairy reputation, which is why it didn't hesitate to issue a big-time recall of four ice cream flavors containing chocolate. The recall was initiated on November 16, 2018 after Tillamook learned that the ingredients list of its Chocolaty Chip Cookie, Mudslide, Udderly Chocolate, and Vanilla Chocolate Chip ice creams were mislabeled. The culprit behind the mislabeling was artificial color.

It takes a village to make the chocolate treats we love, and even a smooth operation like Tillamook relies on goods from outside suppliers to make its sweet treats. When Tillamook determined that an ingredient from one of the suppliers involved in the manufacturing of some chocolate ice creams was laced with Amaranth and Yellow #6, the creamery announced a voluntary recall. Not only were these chemical additives not indicated on the ice creams' packages, Tillamook did not want artificial coloring or flavors in these products.

In a public statement, Tillamook acknowledged that Amaranth and Yellow #6 were linked to adverse health consequences, and that putting them in the ice cream went against what consumers have come to expect from its brand. Tillamook went on to say that the motivation behind the recall would be an isolated incident. The recall extended to multiple lots of each flavor affected and took a whopping 493,452 pounds of product out of distribution.

Thanks to a sharp-eyed Aldi employee, the international mega-chain was able to spot a problem with its dark chocolate bars and avoid the potential endangerment of consumers. The employee spotted almonds inside Choceur Dark Chocolate Bars despite the packaging not listing almonds as an ingredient or indicating a warning that the chocolate may contain traces of tree nuts. The discovery led to Aldi recalling a large quantity of Choceur Dark Chocolate Bars on December 8, 2017.

The chocolate bars were sold in 23 states and Washington D.C. as well as the metro area of Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. The recall did not affect any other Aldi products but it did amass 30,913 pounds of unsaleable chocolate. The FDA does not take recalls pertaining to undeclared allergens lightly and gave the recall a Class I designation. Choceur is a Belgian chocolate brand sold exclusively at Aldi stores. The brand is lauded for its quality taste and use of fair trade cocoa beans, but the 2017 recall wouldn't be Choceur's last. In December 2023, Aldi recalled Choceur Burnt Caramel Sea Salt chocolate sold in Florida stores because of an undeclared allergen — that time it was coconut.

Heritage sweets brand Asher's was left shaken by a 2016 recall that put 41 of its chocolate products out of customers' reach. The recall was voluntarily initiated on September 2, 2016 when in-house testing of a product sample came back positive for salmonella bacteria. The extensive list of products recalled due to the potential contamination ranged from chocolate-covered caramels, chocolate-covered pretzels, peanut butter cups, nonpareils, toffee, and chocolate-covered potato chips. All of the recalled products came from Asher's Lewiston, Pennsylvania plant. No items originating from its Souderton, Pennsylvania plant were affected.

CEO Jeff Asher publicized the recall with a mixture of shock and repentance, maintaining that the company has never had a recall due to salmonella in the company's 124-year history. A total of 31,162 pounds of Asher's treats were implicated by the recall which affected products sold nationwide. There were no reported illnesses linked to the contaminated items, but the recall did have a mini-domino effect. About two weeks later, manufacturing giant Cargill, (the company behind one of the deadliest food recalls of all time), recalled 70 boxes of chocolate nut clusters sold under its brand Wilbur Chocolate. The clusters were supplied by Asher's.

A 40,000 pound chocolate recall in April 2006 was a blow to Dagoba Organic Chocolate, a small business out of Ashland, Oregon. When routine testing revealed high levels of lead in six of Dagoba's chocolate varieties, the company issued a nationwide recall and temporarily ceased production of the recalled items. Five of the six recalled chocolate products contained Ecuador Arriba Nacional, a cacao bean prized by chocolatiers all over the world.

Dark chocolate is notorious for containing too-high levels of lead and cadmium. Heavy metals in dark chocolate are often gleaned from the soil where the cacao plants are grown. The highest concentration of metals is usually found in cocoa solids, as opposed to cocoa butter. Most dark chocolates have a higher percentage of cocoa solids than milk chocolate, increasing its likelihood of elevated lead levels. The FDA reserves the right to recall chocolate with lead levels exceeding 0.1 parts per million (ppm). Dagoba never publicly released the numbers of its lead tests and seemed eager to put the recall in the past as soon as possible.

Dagoba sold its entire chocolate line to Hershey in October 2006 for $17 million. Speaking to Earth Island Journal in 2008, Dagoba's founder and CEO, Frederik Schilling, said the difficult decision to sell was years in the making, fueled by Hershey's eagerness to stake a claim in the organic chocolate category. Hershey divested the Dagoba brand in 2021, and the company is no longer in business. 

Back in 2003, Betty Crocker Triple Chunk Brownie Mix got very mixed up and the mistake became one of chocolate's major recalls. The recall was announced after Betty Crocker Turtle Brownie Mix was discovered inside 21.2-ounce boxes labeled as Betty Crocker Triple Brownie Mix. It might seem like an innocent blooper on the assembly line (and very well may have been), but for people with tree nut allergies, the wrong brownie mix could prove fatal. Betty Crocker Turtle Brownie mix contained pecans and by being packed into the incorrect boxes, the necessary tree nut warning wasn't on the packaging.

Three lot codes of product were determined to be at-risk and promptly pulled from retail circulation. Meanwhile, the FDA classified the mix-up as a Class I recall — the most serious designation a food recall can have. Although Betty Crocker's parent company General Mills described the December 2003 recall as "limited", 155,756 pounds of brownie mix were removed from stores all over the country. Customers who had purchased the mislabeled brownie mix were encouraged to return the box for a full refund. No illnesses regarding this recall were ever made public. 

Lunch bag classic Yoo-hoo wasn't sweetening any meals in 2003 after a hefty recall concerning spoilage. Yoo-hoo's parent brand Orangina Carbonated Beverages issued the recall for 132,273 pounds of the chocolate drink on June 27, 2003 due to the quality issue. Details surrounding the circumstances that may have led to such a big recall weren't released to the media, but the FDA indicated that spoilage organisms were present inside the chocolatey beverage.

Yoo-hoo is a 1920's-era beverage invented by a New Jersey grocery store owner, and it was designed to be shelf-stable. Even modern-day Yoo-hoo chocolate drink is described as having a shelf life of 420 days. Shortly after the June 2003 recall, Yoo-hoo's then-owner Cadbury-Schweppes decided it was time to make some changes. In October 2003, Cadbury Schweppes announced it was closing the Yoo-hoo manufacturing plant in Hialeah, Florida and shifting operations to an existing facility in Opelousas, Louisiana. It's unclear if the large-scale recall was a motivating factor, but the company did cite economicas as a reason for shuttering the plant.