Guittard recalls 25 lb cases of 72% cacao date sugar chocolate wafers for Salmonella risk

Why it happened, in plain English

The filed reason is “Potential contamination with Salmonella,” and nothing more. The record does not say whether Guittard found it in testing, learned it from an ingredient supplier, or was told by a customer. The product has three ingredients: cacao beans, organic date powder, organic cocoa powder. It is a 25 lb bulk wafer, sold to one state, Ohio, in 2,857 cases. That is more than 71,000 pounds of chocolate going to a manufacturing customer, not a retail shelf.

Chocolate is a well-known Salmonella carrier: low moisture and high fat protect the organism, and once it is in the finished product no later step removes it. In general terms, in a three-ingredient product the exposure points are the cocoa ingredients and the date powder as they arrive, and the plant’s own environmental program. Which one, the record does not say. What it does make clear is that whoever bought those wafers in Ohio now has finished goods to trace.

Who else should care

Confectioners, bakers and snack makers who buy bulk chocolate as an ingredient. A supplier’s Salmonella recall on a 25 lb bulk wafer lands in your plant as an ingredient recall, and it comes with the question of what you already made from it and shipped.

Brands selling chocolate sweetened with date sugar or other fruit powders should notice that a novel sweetener is also a novel raw material with its own supply chain. Check: whether your incoming-ingredient program for bulk chocolate includes lot-level pathogen testing or a documented review of the supplier’s testing, rather than acceptance on the certificate alone.

Written 2026-09-08. Analysis is editorial; the record above is FDA's.