Risk Rises: Rice Recall In Multiple States Over Rodent Contamination

Wehah Farms, a company based in California, has issued a significant recall of its Lundberg Family Farms Sustainable Wild Blend Gourmet Rice due to concerns about potential contamination.

This recall affects over 27,000 individual one-pound bags of rice.

In food safety, the term “foreign object” refers to something that ends up in food or a product that shouldn’t contain it.

The exact nature of the foreign object is not detailed in the FDA enforcement report.

The recall does not specify the type of rodent or what they found in the bags of rice. It is also unclear how this impactful contamination might be in the rice.

This specific rice blend was distributed to grocery stores across seven states.

Each bag was priced at $5.99 and included a blend of black, brown, red, and wild rice, as noted on the company’s website.

A representative from Lundberg Family Farm said they issued the recall out of an “abundance of caution” and that the store would no longer sell the products.

Consumers who have purchased this rice are strongly advised to dispose of it immediately.

Wehah Farms first initiated the recall on May 10, 2024.

A Class II recall is issued when exposure to the affected product could result in “temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences,” according to the FDA.

For context, a Class III recall is the least severe and pertains to products with minimal risk.

While consuming the recalled Sustainable Wild Blend Gourmet Rice may not cause any harm to the consumer, there is the possible threat of a choking hazard or something worse.

Thomas Russo, MD, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, says that processing food in a certain way can spread these diseases to consumers.

If you were unlucky enough to have already consumed the rice, be on the lookout for fever, body aches, rashes, or other symptoms that may not be normal.

It’s important to note that other sizes of Lundberg Family Farms wild rice, such as the 4-pound and 25-pound bags, are not part of this recall.

Although they have recalled the rice, no evidence suggests that the contamination has affected consumers.

This recall isn’t new. The FDA updated its notice to mark the Lundberg Family Farms recall as a class II.

This recall follows a recent food safety incident involving AW Farms, a Kentucky-based company.

The increasing number of food recalls underscores the ongoing vigilance required to ensure food safety.

The FDA limits the amount of “extraneous materials” allowed in food. It sets “maximum levels for these defects in foods produced under current good manufacturing practices” and uses these levels to decide whether to recommend regulatory action.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, foreign material contamination was one of the leading causes of food recalls in 2022.

“Recalls like this are actually fairly common,” Ellen Shumaker, PhD, director of outreach for the Safe Plates program at North Carolina State University, told Health.

Rodents often get into products after they squeeze their way into facilities through cracks or holes in the walls, the foundation, the roof, or ventilation.