Trader Joe’s Popular Salad Recalled in 18 States Due to Undeclared Allergen: 'People Who Have...'

A bowl of fresh milk placed at your doorstep is surely a feast for your neighbourhood cat, but for someone who is expecting to eat a salad, it may be undesirable. To munch on a crispy blend of leafy greens and sliced vegetables only to have your body shocked by mysterious allergic chemicals, nothing could be more unpleasant. This is exactly what could have happened if people had eaten Trader Joe’s popular salad. On April 28 this year, a product recall was initiated for certain packets of Trader Joe’s Sesame Miso Salad with Salmon, according to an announcement by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The reason was potential contamination with undeclared milk.

The contamination came to the company’s attention during a quality assurance check. The team had mistakenly packaged approximately 500 packets of salad with a sealed pack of Parmesan cheese crumbles in place of the expected crispy onions. This error led them to do an elaborate laboratory evaluation of these units, which revealed that the salad topping could potentially contain undeclared milk allergens. The packets featured the “Use By Date” labels of April 28, 2025, and April 29, 2025.

Undeclared milk is one of the most common undeclared food allergens and the most frequently reported cause of food recalls, followed by eggs, tree nuts, and wheat, per The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Take the instance of Hammond’s Dark Chocolate Filled Mini Waffle Cones that were recalled in September 2024. The reason for their recall was undeclared milk. In recent recalls of Frito-Lay’s Tostitos Tortilla Chips and Lay’s potato chips, too, milk was found to be the contaminating culprit.

Since everyone’s body is hypersensitive to certain types of foods, different food allergens can have different reactions on the consumer’s body. Ingesting milk allergens can cause the person’s immune system to overreact to milk proteins, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Eating a product contaminated by undeclared milk can trigger a tailspin of allergic reactions in the body, which can be revealed through symptoms like stomach problems, itching, rash, or tingling sensations in the mouth. In severe cases, it can cause “anaphylaxis,” a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction.

“People who have sensitivity or allergy to milk may be at risk of an adverse reaction if they consume this product. To date, there have been no reported adverse reactions to this product,” FDA cautioned the customers. They added that consumers “are urged to discard the product if they or the person eating the product may have milk allergies.” The federal food safety organization mentioned that it doesn’t endorse this recall by any means. “When a company announces a recall, market withdrawal, or safety alert, the FDA posts the company's announcement as a public service. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company,” they wrote in the recall poster.

This salad from Trader Joe’s was recalled voluntarily by the Illinois-based manufacturing company Taylor Fresh Foods. The salad had its distributors in 18 states, including Alabama, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. So, check your fridge and if you see the plastic box of this salad sitting in your crisper drawer, you had better pull it out and toss it in the bin. No, even that neighbourhood cat won’t prefer to eat it either.