Tastykakes Taken Off Shelves Following Discovery of Wire Contaminants

A family wears masks while shopping at a Walmart store in Bradford, Penn., on July 20, 2020. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Flower Foods Inc. announced Wednesday that it was amending an earlier recall notice for Tastykake multi-pack cupcakes to include certain Krimpets products as well due to the potential presence of tiny fragments of metal mesh wire.

The company has done this as a precautionary measure “following notification by a vendor of the possible contamination in a supplied ingredient and is being amended following additional notification from the vendor,” according to the announcement.

The FDA said that no injuries have been reported related to the recalled products. The first recall was initiated on Oct. 31. Customers are advised not to consume the products, and to discard them or take them back to the store for a full refund.

Flower Foods has released the product details on their website that include 12.75-ounce Tastykake Chocolate Cupcakes, 14.25-ounce Tastykake Buttercreme Iced Creme Filled Chocolate Cupcakes, 12-ounce Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets, and 12-ounce Tastykake Jelly Krimpets among others.

Recalled Tastykake multi-pack cupcakes were distributed in New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Washington D.C., and Virginia, while the Krimpets products were distributed nationwide. The company is one of the largest packaged bakery product companies in the U.S.

Walmart has put out a list (pdf) of more than 500 Sam’s Clubs and retail outlets where the products are sold. Target and Publix are other stores selling Tastykake items.

Based out of Thomasville, Georgia, Flowers Foods had sales of $4.4 billion in 2020. They supply some of the country’s most popular brands including Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder Canyon Bakehouse, Nature’s Own, Mrs. Freshly’s, and Tastykake.

Flowers Foods’ representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other major recalls during the past few days include that of fresh onions due to fear of salmonella sold by multiple sources including HelloFresh, Everyplate, Green Giant (Potandon Produce), and MVP from Keeler Family Farms. There was a salmonella outbreak last week in 37 states affecting 650 people caused by whole onions imported from Mexico and supplied by ProSource Inc.

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced last month that Butterball was recalling approximately 14,107 pounds of ground turkey products. The meat may be contaminated with blue plastic.

Consumers with questions may call Flowers’ consumer relations center at 1-866-245-8921. The center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. Consumers also may contact the center via e-mail by visiting this website.