FDA tomato recall elevated to highest level due to salmonella risk

An ongoing recall of tomatoes in the US has been upgraded to the highest risk level with a ‘reasonable probability’ of death.

Tomatoes from Williams Farms Repack LLC are at the centre of an urgent recall in the US.

The warning, which is described as a Class I recall, was issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for protecting public health.

The company first recalled its tomatoes on April 30 over fears that they contain salmonella.

A month later, the FDA has labeled it a Class I recall, which poses the greatest health hazard on its scale and is relatively rare.

The FDA defines a Class I recall as ‘a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death’.

Affected tomatoes were shipped to three US states – Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

There were 50 three-pack trays of the item distributed, as well as 77 10-pound boxes, and 419 60-count two-layer boxes.

They contain the lot numbers R4467 and R4470, and had the Williams Farms Repack label or an H&C Farms label.

The company based in Lodge, South Carolina, stated at the time that it issued the voluntarily recall that there were no related illness reported.

Salmonella is ‘an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems’, according to the FDA’s original announcement on the recall.

Healthy people infected with it can experience symptoms including diarrhoea with or without blood, abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea and fever.

More serious salmonella cases are rare, but involve the organism entering the bloodstream and causing arthritis, endocarditis and arterial infections such as infected aneurysms.

Customers should not consume the tomatoes and return them for a full refund, or throw them away.

A version of this article was previously published on May 30, 2025

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