Whole Foods is pulling two specialty cheeses from shelves at 18 stores in seven states after staff discovered the labels failed to disclose an egg-derived ingredient, a lapse that poses a serious risk to shoppers with egg allergies.
The FDA issued a recall notice on September 11, 2026, covering two Cabricharme cheese products sold at Whole Foods specialty cheese counters in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Both products contain egg lysozyme, a protein derived from egg whites, that was never listed on their labels. No illnesses have been reported so far, but the cheeses carry best-by dates stretching to October 7, 2026, meaning they could still be sitting in customers' refrigerators right now.
The two affected products are Whole Foods Fromagerie Coop de Mean Cabricharme Raw Milk, Aged 60 days, sold under PLU code 57953, and Whole Foods Belgian Cabricharme, sold under PLU code 54670. Both were available at specialty cheese counters, not in prepackaged aisles, which means shoppers who bought them may have received little or no printed ingredient information at the point of sale.
Whole Foods employees discovered the labeling mistake, USA TODAY reported, though no specific date for the discovery has been disclosed. The cheese has since been removed from shelves at all 18 affected locations. The FDA has not identified which specific stores within the seven states sold the product, and it remains unclear whether additional locations might be added to the list.
Also unanswered: how many units or pounds of cheese are covered by the recall, who manufactured or supplied the Cabricharme products, and how the egg lysozyme ended up undisclosed in the first place. Whether the two PLU codes represent genuinely different cheeses or the same product under different labels is not addressed in the recall notice.
For anyone with an egg allergy, the FDA's guidance is blunt: do not eat the cheese. Throw it away. Consumers can get a full refund with a valid receipt from the store where they purchased it. No return of the product is required. The agency also advises washing and sanitizing any cutting boards, knives, or countertops that may have touched the cheese.
This is not an isolated incident. In March 2025, C.H. Guenther & Son LLC recalled 365 Whole Foods Market Small Bites Macaroni & Cheese, sold nationwide from February 6 through March 11, 2025, because the product contained undeclared egg and meat ingredients. That recall, like this one, produced no reported illnesses, but the FDA warned that consumers allergic to eggs faced "serious or life-threatening allergic reactions" if they consumed the product. Fox News reported that the company urged customers to destroy any remaining product.
The macaroni and cheese recall landed within 24 hours of a separate action against Jinga Glass Noodles with Vegetables, also pulled for undeclared eggs. That product, distributed to H Mart stores in multiple states, drew the same FDA warning about life-threatening reactions. The New York Post noted that neither recall had produced reported allergic reactions at the time.
Whole Foods has faced a string of food safety actions beyond allergen mislabeling. Earlier this year, the FDA elevated a Whole Foods guacamole recall to its highest risk classification over salmonella contamination.
That salmonella scare traced back to contaminated jalapeños from a grower in Mexico and forced Whole Foods to pull salsas, guacamole, and prepared foods from its shelves, a broad sweep across multiple product lines.
Whole Foods is hardly the only major retailer caught up in supply-chain food safety failures. A separate parasite outbreak at Taco Bell was traced to a lettuce supplier that also stocks Whole Foods, Target, and Walmart.
At least one of the recalled products, the Fromagerie Coop de Mean Cabricharme, is made from raw milk aged 60 days. Raw milk and raw milk products can carry bacteria including salmonella, E. coli, listeria, and Staphylococcus aureus, among others. The FDA considers raw milk one of only two foods, along with sprouts, dangerous enough to warrant a blanket advisory against consumption. In some states, selling raw milk directly to consumers is illegal.
Pasteurization became routine in the U.S. commercial milk supply in the 1920s and was widespread by the 1950s. Cheese aged at least 60 days from raw milk is legal under federal rules, but the combination of a raw-milk product and an undisclosed allergen compounds the risk for consumers who may already be making a calculated choice about food safety. Meanwhile, FDA recalls of products with unapproved or undisclosed ingredients have become a recurring headline.
The recall spans coast to coast, from Arizona to Rhode Island, yet covers only 18 stores. Whether that small footprint reflects limited distribution of a specialty product or an incomplete accounting remains an open question. The FDA notice does not name the cheese's manufacturer or explain how egg lysozyme wound up in a product whose label did not mention it.
For consumers in the affected states, the immediate steps are simple: check the PLU codes, check the best-by dates, and throw the cheese away. A receipt gets a full refund. No return trip to the store is needed.
When a grocery chain cannot get the ingredient label right on a specialty cheese counter, the system that is supposed to protect consumers with life-threatening allergies has already failed at the most basic level. Shoppers deserve better than finding out about hidden allergens from an FDA recall notice days after the fact.