- Aldi cheese is being recalled over metal fragment contamination.
- It was made a Class II recall, which means consuming the product may cause serious adverse health concerns.
- Below is more information about the recalled product.
Processed cheese can last a good bit of time in the fridge, which is why it’s worth checking the back of yours for recently recalled Happy Farms by Aldi Colby Jack Finely Shredded Cheese. The product was recalled in February over potential foreign material contamination. Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is classifying it as a Class II recall, meaning that consumption could cause “serious adverse health consequences.”
Four-hundred cases of the 12-ounce pouches of cheese were recalled in four states—Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania—because they could potentially be contaminated with foreign matter—specifically, stainless steel fragments. The packages have the item number of 170374, the UPC code 4061463330840, and best-by dates of July 13, 2025 and July 14, 2025. If you believe you have affected product, do not eat it.
A press release announcing the recall was not published, so further details regarding how the cheese was contaminated are not available, nor are specific disposal or return instructions. However, according to Aldi’s recall policy, the stores work to “swiftly and effectively remove such products” from shelves. “A ‘pull-from-sale’ alert from either the manufacturer of the suspect product or our own Corporate Buying Department will trigger a rapid response plan for handling recalls,” the grocer’s site reads. “Products that do not meet Aldi or government standards in any of these areas will be efficiently and effectively removed from sale.”
If you do still happen to have recalled product, reschedule taco night and follow the standard procedure for disposal and reaching out to either the store you purchased it from or the manufacturer, which, in this case, is Great Lakes Cheese Co Inc. The manufacturer can be reached at 440-834-2500 or via email at hello@greatlakescheese.com.
More about the rise in food recalls
Other wellness and food products recently impacted by recalls include acne treatments, canned tuna, pancake mix, and more. A February report published by the Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit consumer protection group, analyzed data from food recalls in 2024 and found that there were about 300 food recalls last year leading to nearly 1,400 illnesses associated with pathogens like salmonella, E. coli, and others.
Food safety experts attribute the apparent rise in numbers to a few causes, including a lack of proper sanitation practices and increased monitoring and reporting of these issues overall. “We don’t find outbreaks if we don’t look for them,” Barbara Kowalcyk, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University previously told Prevention. “We’re doing more investigations, but we also have better tools to do investigations with.” As a result, the U.S. may be experiencing more outbreaks and recalls than before, but the food supply is becoming more tightly regulated, she said.
Kayla Blanton is a freelance writer-editor who covers health, nutrition, and lifestyle topics for various publications including Prevention, Everyday Health, SELF, People, and more. She’s always open to conversations about fueling up with flavorful dishes, busting beauty standards, and finding new, gentle ways to care for our bodies. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University with specializations in women, gender, and sexuality studies and public health, and is a born-and-raised midwesterner living in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two spoiled kitties.
