Undeclared tree nuts in FDA food recalls

1,048 FDA food recall records since 2012 name undeclared tree nuts, out of 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls in total. 411 are Class I. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

1,048

Share of all recalls

3.6%

Class I of 1,048

411

Reported between

2012 to 2026

Tree nuts as a major food allergen

Tree nuts are a single major allergen class covering almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamias and Brazil nuts, and a label has to name which one.

These records are a subset of the 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls. A single recall frequently names more than one allergen, so the counts across this family overlap. An undeclared allergen recall means a food contained one of the major allergens and the label did not say so, either because the wrong label was applied or because an ingredient carried an allergen nobody traced.

What is different about these records

By product, Tree nuts is weighted toward nuts and seeds: 36.5% of the records here against 10.7% across the corpus.

A recall involving undeclared tree nuts stays open a median of 145 days between the report and termination, against 215 days for the corpus as a whole. Termination follows the firm accounting for every unit of the affected lot.

What the FDA says

What the law says about tree nuts

Tree nuts are one of the nine in 21 U.S.C. 321(qq)(1), given there with the examples almonds, pecans and walnuts, and section 343(w)(2) is explicit that for a tree nut the name of the food source means the name of the specific type of nut. Contains tree nuts does not satisfy it; Contains almonds does. Which nuts count as tree nuts for this purpose is not in the statute but in FDA guidance, and the edition of the FDA's food allergen labelling questions and answers announced in January 2025 revised the treatment of tree nuts, so a specification written against an older edition may declare a nut the current guidance does not treat as a major allergen, or omit one it does.

The clause this maps to

A preventive controls plan covers an undeclared tree nuts allergen under the clauses below. This is where the control belongs, not a finding against any firm named on this page: a recall record states a reason, and most of these recalls were initiated by the firm itself.

21 CFR 117.135(c)(2)

Food allergen controls: the written preventive controls that keep an allergen out of a food it does not belong in, and that get the allergens present onto the label.

21 CFR 101.4

Ingredient declaration: every ingredient listed by its common name, in descending order of predominance, on the label of a packaged food.

21 CFR 117 subpart G

Supply-chain programme: the approval and verification a receiving facility runs on a supplier when the hazard is controlled before the ingredient arrives.

By year

Counts are by the date the FDA reported the enforcement action. That date runs behind the date a firm started a recall, so the most recent year is always partial.

Firms with the most records

A firm appears here because it reported recalls, which is what a working recall procedure produces. A high count frequently reflects a single event split across many product codes rather than many separate failures.

• Koogee-Queen Anne, LLC78
• Albertsons Companies LLC67
• Queen Bee Gardens, LLC49
• Houston Pecan Company, Inc31
• Lavoi Corporation d/b/a/ Epi De France22
• Windy Hill Chocolate LLC17
• D'Dioses Fruit Pops, Inc.16
• Whole Foods Market16
• Paradise Flavors LLC13
• Knockroe Inc12
• Silver Moon LP dba Loard's Ice Cream11
• Whole Food Market11

Where the recalling firms are

The state is the location of the recalling firm, not where the product was sold. Distribution is recorded separately on each record.

• California111
• Kentucky80
• Idaho71
• Texas67
• Florida60
• Pennsylvania51
• Michigan51
• Wyoming50
• New York47
• New Jersey45
• Oregon40
• Georgia36

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA recalls involve undeclared tree nuts?

1,048 FDA food recall records since 2012 name undeclared tree nuts, out of 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls in total. That makes it the fifth most frequently undeclared of the allergens tracked here.

Is tree nuts a major food allergen?

Tree nuts are a single major allergen class covering almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, macadamias and Brazil nuts, and a label has to name which one.

Which clause covers undeclared tree nuts?

Allergen labelling failures are covered under 21 CFR 117.135(c)(2), the food allergen preventive controls, together with 21 CFR 101.4 for the ingredient declaration itself. Where the allergen arrived inside a purchased ingredient, the supply-chain programme in 21 CFR 117 subpart G is the control that should have caught it.

All FDA food recall data