Possibly spoiled chicken broth has been recalled from Walmart stores in 9 states
About 12,138 cartons of Walmart’s Great Value Chicken Broth were recalled in mid-December because spoilage might have befouled the broth. So, why is the public just hearing about it now, in mid-January?
First, the basics about the recall. This covers 48-ounce cartons of Great Value Family Size Chicken Broth, UPC code No. 007874206684, lot No. 98F09234 with a best by date of March 25, 2026. According to Walmart, they went to 242 stores in Missouri, Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
TreeHouse Foods made the broth at its Cambridge, Maryland facility for Walmart.
“This recall of three pallets of product was initiated due to a potential seal issue, identified during production, that may cause spoilage of the product,” TreeHouse said in an email to the Miami Herald. “Product impacted by the potential seal issue was held and destroyed, and there have been no complaints or illnesses associated with this recall.”
An FDA Enforcement Report said TreeHouse issued a recall on Dec. 11 and phoned Walmart distributors in Alabama and Arkansas. TreeHouse issued no press release.
“In determining the need for a press release, we follow FDA protocols as well as customer requests,” a TreeHouse email to the Herald said. “In this particular case, neither the FDA nor Walmart requested that particular form of public communication. As a private label supplier, TreeHouse Foods was required to notify its “consignee” - in this case, Walmart. Walmart handled notification of this limited recall to its customers.”
Walmart usually waits for the online posting of a recall announcement either on the FDA, USDA or press release website, then posts the recall to that section of its own website, usually with a list of stores affected. With no news release from TreeHouse, there was no posting on the Walmart site until Tuesday.
“As soon as we were made aware of the issue by our supplier on Dec. 11, we took action and executed all appropriate recall protocols to remove all impacted product from the select, impacted stores,” a Tuesday statement from Walmart said. “ Once the recall execution was confirmed by the impacted locations, we resumed sale of non-impacted product. We are continuing to work with the supplier, as they continue to investigate with the FDA.”
Customers with recalled broth can return it to Walmart for a refund or exchange for the same product that hasn’t been recalled.
So, how did this recall pop into the news this week? The aforementioned FDA Enforcement Report was among those in the Jan. 8 email of such reports. This alerted media who receive that daily email to the recall.
This story was originally published January 14, 2025 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Possibly spoiled chicken broth has been recalled from Walmart stores in 9 states."
