An Iowa candy company on Monday voluntarily recalled its “white coated confectionary items” distributed in 17 states due to potential salmonella contamination.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published the recall notice, highlighting the risk of salmonella in 29 products made by Palmer Candy Company.
The recall affects various brands under the 125-year-old family-run company, including Freshness Guaranteed, Palmer, Sweet Smiles, Snackin’ With The Crew, Casey’s, Sconza Chocolates, Favorite Day Bakery, Sunny Select, Urge!, and Kwik Trip Inc.
The products in question, labeled “White Coated Confectionary Items,” were distributed nationwide in retail stores and wholesale.
Marty Palmer, the CEO and president of Palmer Candy, told the Des Moines Register that the recall includes “thousands and thousands, many tons of products because we use a lot of white coatings.”
He noted that the issue originated with a supplier that makes dairy powders, which are then provided to a supplier that makes the candy coating.
“It was a supplier of a supplier,” Mr. Palmer said.
The confectionery with the white coating was sold in prominent retail chains such as Walmart, HyVee, Target, Dollar General, and others, spanning across multiple states, including Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
According to the FDA announcement, the company issued a voluntary recall due to the potential risk of salmonella contamination in the confectionary items.
No Illnesses Reported So Far
Palmer Candy Company highlighted that no illnesses related to the recalled products have been reported so far. The company was alerted to the potential contamination by its liquid coating supplier, which identified the risk from an ingredient possibly tainted by one of its suppliers.Production of the coating has been halted while both the FDA and the company investigate the source of the problem, according to the announcement.
“While there is a very, very small chance [of contamination], when you are working with food and safety, 99.9 percent is not 100 percent. I only want my products to be 100 percent safe for our customers,” Mr. Palmer said.
“That’s why the U.S. food system is the best in the world,” he added.
Mr. Palmer, whose company faced a similar salmonella contamination issue with 18 products with white coating in 2017, said the company “always investigate hard to determine what has happened.”
He said his supplier of the white coating would not be using the supplier of the suspect dairy powder again.
Consumers who have purchased any of the recalled confectionary items are advised to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. For further inquiries, customers can contact Palmer Candy Company at 1-800-831-0828, Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
