Class I · Recall · initiated May 19, 2026 · Ongoing
Kettle Cuisine recalls Whole Foods Market Kitchens minestrone soup for undeclared shrimp
Kettle Cuisine of Lynn, Massachusetts recalled 4,496 cups of Whole Foods Market Kitchens Minestrone Soup, labeled vegetarian, because the product contains shrimp that the label does not declare, with distribution across 17 states and Washington DC.
The record
- Firm
- Kettle Cuisine, LLC, Lynn, MA
- Product
- Individual Unit Label (both lid and front of cup): Whole Foods Market Kitchens Minestrone Soup, VEGETARIAN NET WT 24 OZ (1 Lb 8OZ) 680g. Case Label: Whole Foods Global Minestrone Soup 702505, KEEP REFRIGERATED, Distributed by Whole Foods Market Austin, TX 78703. Eight (8)/ 24 oz. Cups (Net Wt. 12 L
- Reason, as filed
- “Contains undeclared allergen (shrimp).”
- Classification
- Class I (Class I: reasonable probability of serious health consequences or death)
- Recall number
- H-0941-2026
- Initiated
- May 19, 2026
- Posted by FDA
- June 17, 2026
- Status
- Ongoing · Voluntary: Firm initiated
- Quantity
- 562 cases (4,496 - 24oz units)
- Distribution
- AL, CT, DC, FL, GA, MA, MD, ME, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA
Verify: search any recall number above in FDA's enforcement report database.
Why it happened, in plain English
The filed reason is “Contains undeclared allergen (shrimp).” The product is a refrigerated 24 oz cup labeled “Minestrone Soup, Vegetarian” for Whole Foods Market Kitchens, made by Kettle Cuisine. The record does not say how shrimp reached a vegetarian soup: a mis-fill of cups, a shared kettle or filler after a seafood soup, or a wrong lid on the right soup. The label mismatch is doubled here, because a vegetarian claim is also a promise about what is not inside.
Kettle Cuisine is the co-packer and Whole Foods is the brand. The product carries a Whole Foods case label and distribution address, and the recall carries Kettle Cuisine’s name. In general terms, a fresh soup line that runs a shrimp soup and a vegetarian soup on the same shift needs a changeover clearance and a first-cup check where someone looks at the soup and the lid together. Shrimp is a crustacean shellfish, a major allergen.
Who else should care
Fresh soup, salad and prepared-meal co-packers that make retailer brands on shared equipment. A vegetarian or plant-based label draws customers who chose it precisely to avoid an ingredient. When the wrong soup goes into the right cup, the label is actively steering the wrong person toward it.
Retailers with a large in-house prepared-foods brand should notice that the co-packer carried the recall while the retailer’s name was on 4,496 cups. Check: whether your filler and lidding line has a documented product-to-label match at the start of every run and after every changeover, signed by the person who looked, not just by the line lead.
Written 2026-09-08. Analysis is editorial; the record above is FDA's.