Class I · Recall · initiated January 30, 2026 · Terminated
Reser's Fine Foods recalls 5-pound tuna salad tubs shipped under a chicken salad lid
A Beaverton, Oregon prepared-foods maker recalled 298 five-pound tubs of tuna salad that were sealed with Molly Kitchen's Chicken Salad lids for US Foods, so the fish allergen went undeclared in five western states.
The record
- Firm
- Reser's Fine Foods, Inc., Beaverton, OR
- Product
- The Tuna Salad product container is mislabeled with a Chicken Salad lid, which states: Molly Kitchen's Chicken Salad, 789953, NET WT. 5 LB (2.26 kg) per plastic tub. UPC 7 5810830149 8. Distributed by US Foods, Inc. Rosemont, IL 60018. The lid declares Contains: Eggs, Milk, Wheat. The immediate 5-l
- Reason, as filed
- “Undeclared fish allergen (tuna). Tuna Salad was mislabeled as Chicken Salad.”
- Classification
- Class I (Class I: reasonable probability of serious health consequences or death)
- Recall number
- H-0517-2026
- Initiated
- January 30, 2026
- Posted by FDA
- February 25, 2026
- Status
- Terminated · Voluntary: Firm initiated
- Quantity
- 149 cases (2 tubs /case) or 298 total tubs
- Distribution
- Distributed in AZ, CA, NV, UT and WA.
Verify: search any recall number above in FDA's enforcement report database.
Why it happened, in plain English
The filed reason spells out the mechanism: “Tuna Salad was mislabeled as Chicken Salad.” The tub held tuna salad; the lid said chicken salad and declared eggs, milk and wheat. Anyone with a fish allergy reading that lid had no warning. This is a packaging mix-up, not a formulation problem, and it is the most common way an allergen recall happens in a plant that runs several salads on one line in similar tubs.
The product was made for US Foods under the Molly Kitchen’s name, so the brand on the lid is not the recalling firm. That is the private-label cascade: US Foods has to reach its food-service customers, who are not reading FDA notices. The record does not say how the lids got swapped. In general terms, the control that catches this is a line clearance between products and a lid-code check at packing, both of which fail quietly when two lids look alike.
Who else should care
Any co-packer running multiple deli salads, dips or spreads through one filling line with a shared tub format. A lid is a label. Lid inventory, line clearance between runs and a first-off check against the batch record are the whole defense.
Food-service distributors selling private-label prepared foods should note that their name on the lid means their customers call them first. Check: whether your line-clearance procedure requires removing all lids and labels from the previous product before the next run starts, and whether someone signs for it.
Written 2026-09-08. Analysis is editorial; the record above is FDA's.