Juice recalled in 12 states due to possible botulism contamination

Customers should contact Walker’s Wine Juice to determine how to dispose of the juice

A juice sold across 12 U.S. states has been recalled due to a potential contamination with botulism.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a report on Tuesday about Walker’s Wine Juice recalling its pumpkin juice because it may contain botulism, which is a “potentially fatal form of food poisoning.”

According to the report, symptoms of botulism include general weakness, dizziness, double-vision, trouble with speaking or swallowing, difficulty in breathing, weakness of other muscles, abdominal distension, and constipation.

The recall was issued after the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Food Inspectors discovered the juice’s pH was “too high to be processed per Walker’s ‘hot fill’ schedule process.”

“As a result, it was determined that no adequate kill step was used to address the possibility of microbiological hazards,” The FDA’s release read.

While it was not determined how many containers of pumpkin juice were recalled, the FDA clarified that it applies to all lots of Walker’s Wine Juice’s 2.5-gallon bag in a box and 5-gallon hot pack labeled “pumpkin” in addition to their 30-, 60-, and 275-gallon bulk containers also labeled “pumpkin.”

The juice was sold across 12 states (Getty Images)

Walker’s Wine Juice is based in Forestville, NY, but the pumpkin juice was distributed to commercial wineries in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

There have currently been no reported illnesses, and customers who have purchased the pumpkin juice are urged to contact Walker’s Wine Juice in order to dispose of it properly.

The recall comes a few days after Trader Joe’s issued a recall of one of its popular salad dressings after a number of incorrectly labeled bottles hit the shelves.

Fresh Creative Foods announced on Sunday that it was “voluntarily recalling” certain bottles of its Trader Joe’s Hot Honey Mustard Dressing due to a “labeling error.”

The FDA has since published the notice, which stated that dressing bottles with a Use By Date of May 27, 2025, were incorrectly labeled with a nutrition sticker that did not accurately include an allergy warning for peanuts, soy, sesame, or wheat.

The affected dressings have the product code 80152 and were sold at Trader Joe’s locations in Arkansas, Colorado, Washington D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.