Before you spread butter on your toast or grilled cheese sandwich today, you might want to check the packaging. Agri-Mark, the owner of Cabot Creamery, is voluntarily recalling some of its Extra Creamy Premium Butter over concerns that it could contain coliform bacteria, according to a statement released by the company on Wednesday.
“The detection of coliform bacteria in a food product indicates that it is likely contaminated and may transmit pathogens including E. coli, Salmonella and Shigella, for example,” says Dean Blumberg, M.D., a professor and the chair of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Health. “These gastrointestinal pathogens commonly cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and often fever.”
“Not everyone who eats contaminated foods gets sick, because our immune systems often fight off the bacteria before infection can take hold,” says Dr. Blumberg. However, in some people, the pathogens can be invasive, “resulting in sepsis or blood poisoning, and may spread to other parts of the body causing serious infections of the bones or joints, or even meningitis,” adds Dr. Blumberg. “E. coli may cause HUS, hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in kidney failure.”
What products are recalled?
The butter with elevated levels of coliform is: Cabot Creamery 8oz Extra Creamy Premium Butter, Sea Salted. It comes as two 4-oz. sticks in a cardboard shell and the UPC is 0 78354 62038 0. Affected packages have a Best By date of September 9, 2025, lot number 090925-055 and item number 2038.
While the FDA’s report says 1,700 pounds of butter were affected and distributed in Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arizona, Agri-Mark says it “successfully recovered 99.5% of the lot of the recalled product before it was sold to consumers. A small amount — 17 retail packages (8.5 lbs.) — was sold to consumers in Vermont.”
How does this happen?
“Coliform bacteria may contaminate foods at the point of origin (that is, where ingredients are collected or harvested) or contaminate anywhere along the food manufacturing process,” says Dr. Blumberg. “So, in the case of butter, the milk may be contaminated when collected from the cow, humans may contaminate the product during handling or the processing equipment may be tainted and contaminate the food product.” Agri-Mark says it “identified the cause and has taken the appropriate internal actions to address it.”
What should you do?
“If you think that you are sick due to ingestion of contaminated food, tell your healthcare provider,” says Dr. Blumberg. “They may then do tests for these pathogens.” If you have concerns about butter that you bought, you can contact Agri-Mark via email (info@cabotcreamery.com) or phone (1-888-792-2268).
Kaitlyn Phoenix is a deputy editor in the Hearst Health Newsroom, where she reports, writes and edits research-backed health content for Good Housekeeping, Prevention and Woman's Day. She has more than 10 years of experience talking to top medical professionals and poring over studies to figure out the science of how our bodies work. Beyond that, Kaitlyn turns what she learns into engaging and easy-to-read stories about medical conditions, nutrition, exercise, sleep and mental health. She also holds a B.S. in magazine journalism from Syracuse University.
