Costco recalls 80,000 pounds of butter — all because it didn't mention an obvious ingredient on label

Last month, more than 12 million pounds of frozen food products were recalled across America due to the threat of listeria posed by meat from BrucePac. Among the retailers worst hit by these mass recalls was Costco, which was recently compelled to recall nearly 80,000 pounds of butter for a silly error. The decision came after the label failed to mention the obvious fact that the kitchen staple contains milk, and social media users are rolling their eyes after the announcement.

According to a report by the NY Post, the FDA called for an initial recall of 79,200 pounds of Kirkland Signature butter due to the undeclared allergen in October. Packages for both the salted as well as the unsalted Kirkland Signature Sweet Cream Butter list cream as an ingredient but do not have an allergy warning about the butter containing milk.

"80,000 pounds of Costco butter was just recalled because the label doesn’t say that it contains milk. It’s butter. News articles are telling people how they can return, or safely dispose of the butter. It’s butter," one person told the NY Post. 

Many others later took to social media sites like X.com to talk about the decision. "Rather than waste 80,000 pounds of butter why don’t they print stickers that say “Contains Milk” and save perfectly good food? So wasteful," asked user @Clementine22119 on TikTok. "Even easier than sticking a label on each package of the butter is just put a single large sign on the shelf next to the butter (in each store) with the relevant info. Or would that still allow greedy people to sue for millions, cause no info on the package," @AnnAspie13 commented.

This is not the first time that Costco had to recall products, since its frozen grilled chicken mini burritos and Mexican grill chicken & cheese taquitos were pulled off the shelves in October. Both products potentially carried a bacteria that causes listeria and were recalled as part of the larger action of the USDA against BrucePac, an Oklahoma-based producer of pre-cooked meats. This list of the products recalled included Red's Southwestern Grilled Chicken Mini Burritos, which were available at Costco warehouses in the Midwest region. Other than this, the  El Monterey Mexican Grill Chicken & Cheese Taquito was also recalled. 

Costco has also recalled Readywise 110 Serving Emergency Protein Bucket that reportedly had a shelf life of 25 years. Consumers often store dehydrated and freeze-dried meals in preparation for a calamity. As per the product's description, they offer “a long-term solution” rather than a “temporary fix." "Due to the potential Listeria contamination in the chicken provided by one of our suppliers," the firm said as it requested customers to not buy these products and return if already bought. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and ask you to please pass this letter along to anyone to whom a Pasta Meal Kit may have been given," the brand wrote in its notice. More recently, the warehouse also recalled frozen waffles for breakfast after the FDA found traces of the bacteria that causes listeria in them.