FDA Upgrades Salata Jalapeño Dressing Recall to Class I

The FDA has raised the Salata Jalapeño Avocado Dressing recall to its highest risk level, expanding it to 1,724 cases and gallon jugs in three states.

On September 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration assigned a Class I recall designation — its highest risk level — to Salata Salad Kitchen Jalapeño Avocado Dressing, manufactured by Salata Dressings, LLC of Houston. The company first initiated a voluntary recall, which Good Housekeeping reports was announced on August 11, after its jalapeño supplier warned that diced jalapeños mixed into the dressing could be contaminated with Salmonella and might be tied to a multistate outbreak under FDA investigation. Newsweek reports the company initiated the action on August 6 before announcing it on August 11. The escalation matters because the FDA reserves Class I for situations with a "reasonable probability" that exposure to the product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

The original public announcement looked narrow: Newsweek reports it focused on 12-ounce bottles sold at H-E-B grocery stores in Texas between July 13 and August 5, with no illnesses reported at the time. The FDA's subsequent enforcement report changed that picture considerably. According to Newsweek, the report lists distribution in Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, and adds one-gallon foodservice jugs to the recall alongside the smaller bottles — 1,724 cases in all, sold to both consumers and foodservice customers. Neither the enforcement report nor the press release names any other grocery chains or restaurants in Georgia or North Carolina beyond the Texas H-E-B stores, leaving retail buyers and restaurant operators to check stock themselves.

Good Housekeeping details exactly which products are affected: both sizes carry UPC 8 50043-70646 5. The 12.5-ounce plastic bottles with black caps have best-by dates of November 5, 13, 18 or 25, 2026, with affected batch numbers ranging from 2628-106 through 2631-056 depending on the date. The one-gallon jugs, shipped four per case, carry affected batch numbers from 2628-126 to 2631-076 with expiration dates between October 6 and October 26, 2026. Good Housekeeping reports Salata Dressings received four lots of potentially contaminated jalapeños that went into production from July 8 to July 29, 2026, which is why every affected date falls in that narrow window.

Salmonella symptoms can begin within hours to days of eating contaminated food — Good Housekeeping cites a window of six hours to six days — and include watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, headache, nausea, and vomiting, usually resolving in four days to a week. Consumers should not eat the dressing, should wash and sanitize any containers or surfaces it touched, and can return it to the place of purchase for a refund; questions can go to inquiries@growfoodpacking.com or 281-881-4785, Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The contamination concern sits inside a broader year: Newsweek notes the multistate jalapeño-linked Salmonella outbreak had caused 431 confirmed illnesses across 32 states, including 57 hospitalizations, as of August 19, and that a separate spicy cheddar popcorn recall received the same Class I classification the same day.