Chocolate candy bars recalled nationwide due to tree nut allergy risk

Gardners Candies has issued a nationwide recall on one of its chocolate bars, due to the risk of a tree nut allergy.

The Food and Drug Administrationannounced on Friday (December 27) that the company was issuing a recall on its 1.25-ounce packages of Cappuccino Meltaway Bars. The recall was issued because the candies may contain an undeclared amount of tree nuts, posing a “serious or life-threatening allergic reaction” to consumers with an allergy or severe sensitivity to tree nuts.

According to the FDA, the recalled candies started being sold nationwide on September 1, 2024, through retail stores and mail orders made on the Gardners Candies website.

The recall was also initiated after it was “discovered that the tree nut-containing product was distributed in packaging” that didn’t include the presence of tree nuts.

An investigation that showed the packing issue “was caused by a temporary breakdown in the company’s production and packaging processes.” The production of these chocolate bars has been halted “until the company is certain that the problem has been corrected.”

The recalled Cappuccino Meltaway Bars were in a white package, marked with the number 082725 stamped on the side. They also have an expiration date of August 27, 2025.

This product can also be found in the Gardners Meltaway Treat Box marked with either of these numbers: 101625 or 112525.

Consumers who bought the packages of Cappuccino Meltaway Bars or Meltaway Treat Boxes are urged to call Gardners Candies corporate office “for a replacement.”

The news comes only two days after Portland-based pet food company Northwest Naturals issued a North American recall. On December 24, the company announced a recall of its 2-pound Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food after a house cat in Oregon died and subsequent testing revealed the product contained H5N1 bird flu.

There has been an unexplained rise in food recalls in 2024. Last week, The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a high-risk recall for approximately 7,485 pounds of raw Italian pork sausage products produced by Impero Foods & Meats, Inc., a Baltimore-based establishment

The FSIS designated the recall as Class I, describing it as a “health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”

Also this month, Frito-Lay recalled a “limited number” of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips because they “may contain undeclared milk,” which Frito-Lay learned “after being alerted through a consumer contact.” This poses the risk of a “serious or life-threatening allergic reaction” for customers with “an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk.”