Allergy scare leads to chicken soup labeling recall

The health risk may be officially “low,” but there’s a USDA advisory out for the recall of a chicken noodle soup product that could still present health problems for consumers thanks to its food labels.

The Wholesome Home brand, put out by StockPot Inc., is recalling its “classic Chicken Noodle Soup” which, according to the release, accidentally contained wheat without any description that it did, which could have resulted in allergic reactions in those who have a gluten sensitivity.

Eight states in the West and Midwest are said to have received this item in distribution centers, from Arizona to Indiana. Even though the labels themselves are brightly colored and easily visible, the bad application has resulted in this potential danger.

This is because the products have mismatched labels on their containers: the lid correctly denotes that the item is chicken soup, but the body shows “Loaded Baked Potato Style Soup” on around 1,800 different containers, which does not describe the contents accurately.

It’s a classic mixup, but shoppers confronted with this sort of confusion might not know which of these labels to trust, and that’s partly why companies need to study how to make labels in order to do so correctly. The company involved is right to announce that there is danger in this even though it seems that there’s only one possible dangerous ingredient.

The mistake seems to have stemmed from an improper label application in production, and a color label applicator is one of the pieces of equipment you could have at your own disposal to reduce the chance that this might possibly happen.