FDA elevates tomato recall to highest risk level over potential salmonella contamination
The Food and Drug Administration is elevating an earlier tomato recall to its highest risk level over concerns of potential salmonella contamination.
Williams Farms Repack LLC issued a recall for some of its tomatoes back on May 2. On May 28, the FDA assigned the recall a Class I designation, which indicates that use of the recalled product could cause "serious adverse health consequences or death."
The recall includes "4x5 2 layer," "60ct 2-layer" and three-count trays of Williams Farms Repack label tomatoes, according to a company announcement shared on the FDA website. The recall also impacts "5x6" and "6x6" 25-pound boxes of H&C Farms Label tomatoes, the company said.
All recalled tomatoes have lot codes of R4467 or R4470. The three-pack tomatoes bear the UPC number 0 33383 65504 8.
For a full list of recalled products, click here.
The recalled tomatoes were previously distributed between April 23 and 28 in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, the company said in its recall announcement.
"On April 29, 2025, the firm was notified via telephone by Southeast Tomato Distributors that tomatoes supplied from H&C Farms may be contaminated with Salmonella," it stated at the time. "No illnesses have been reported to date."
Salmonella are bacteria that cause about 1.35 million infections in the U.S. every year, with contaminated food as the source for most of these illnesses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency states that salmonella is most often spread through food but can also spread through water, animals, people and other ways.
According to the CDC, symptoms of a salmonella infection include abdominal pain, fever, headache, watery diarrhea that may also have blood or mucus, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, and usually start six hours to six days after infection, typically lasting four to seven days.
Anyone in possession of the recalled tomatoes is urged not to eat them and to discard them or return them to their place of purchase for a full refund.
ABC News has reached out to Williams Farms Repack LLC for comment.
