Ritz recall 2025: Mislabeled peanut butter cracker sandwiches pose risk of life-threatening allergic reaction
The products may pose the risk of a life-threatening allergic reaction, according to the company, due to their packaging being mislabeled. Here's what you need to know about this latest food recall.
What's happened?
On July 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a recall notice from Mondelēz Global LLC. That recall notice covered four Ritz cracker sandwich products sold in multipack cartons.
While there is nothing wrong with the cracker sandwiches themselves, Mondelēz Global discovered that some of the individual cracker sandwich packages inside the carton may be mislabeled as being a cracker sandwich of the cheese variety instead of a cracker sandwich of the peanut butter variety.
This mislabeling poses a risk to the millions of children and adults in America who have a peanut allergy. Those with peanut allergies who consume even trace amounts of peanuts are at risk of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening medical emergency that requires immediate medical attention.
Upon becoming aware of the mislabeled products, Mondelēz Global issued the recall.
What items are being recalled?
According to the recall notice, four individual products are being recalled.
These four products are various-sized cartons containing Ritz cracker sandwiches. Three of the recalled products contain Ritz Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches, and one of the recalled products contains a variety of Ritz Filled Cracker Sandwiches, including peanut butter ones.
The recalled products are as follows:
11.4 oz. RITZ Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches
– 8 Count (8 x 1.38-oz. 6-pack carton) 0 44000 88210 5 1 NOV 25 – 9 NOV 25
'AE' Plant Code Only
(located on top of package) See Image Below
27.6 oz. RITZ Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches
– 20 Count (20 x 1.38-oz. 6-pack carton) 0 44000 07584 2 1 NOV 25 – 9 NOV 25
2 JAN 26 – 22 JAN 26
'AE' Plant Code Only
(located on top of package) See Image Below
55.2 oz. RITZ Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches
– 40 Count (40 x 1.38-oz. 6-pack carton) 0 44000 07819 5 1 NOV 25 – 9 NOV 25
2 JAN 26 – 22 JAN 26
'AM' Plant Code Only
(located on top of package) See Image Below
27.3 oz. RITZ Filled Cracker Sandwich
20-Count Variety Pack
(20 packs of 10 Cheese 1.38-oz. packs
and 10 Peanut Butter 1.38-oz. packs) 0 44000 08095 2 2 NOV 25 – 9 NOV 25
'RJ' Plant Code Only
(located on top of package) See Image Below
While the outer cartons of the products correctly state that the crackers inside 'contains peanuts,' the crackers inside are also wrapped in individual packs and these are the packs that may be mislabeled.
Mondelēz Global says that the individually wrapped packages inside the cartons are labeled as a Cheese variety.
Those mislabeled wrapped packages state that the crackers are Ritz Cheese Cracker Sandwiches (1.38oz. pack), with a retail UPC of 0 44000 00211 4, and 'Best When Used By Dates' of 1 NOV 25 – 9 NOV 25 and 2 JAN 26 – 22 JAN 26 'AE' Plant Code Only.
Images of the recalled products and the mislabeled packaging can be found here.
Where were the recalled items sold?
The notice states that the recalled products were manufactured in the United States and were sold 'nationwide.' The recall notice does not state at which retailers the recalled products were sold.
Have the recalled items harmed anyone?
Thankfully, Mondelēz Global says that there have been no reports of injury or illness related to these recalled products that the company is aware of.
Mondelēz says the recall is being initiated as a precautionary measure after it discovered that film packaging rolls used to individually wrap peanut butter products 'may contain defects due to a supplier error.'
Mondelēz says it is taking steps to make sure this error does not happen again.
What are the symptoms of a peanut allergy?
A peanut allergy can manifest itself in many ways. According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, peanut allergy symptoms may include:
Vomiting
Stomach cramps
Indigestion
Diarrhea
Wheezing
Shortness of breath, difficulty breathing
Repetitive cough
Tightness in throat, hoarse voice
Weak pulse
Pale or blue coloring of the skin
Hives
Swelling, can affect the tongue and/or lips
Dizziness
Confusion
People allergic to peanuts also risk anaphylaxis after consuming them. This is a life-threatening reaction, which can include 'impaired breathing, swelling in the throat, a sudden drop in blood pressure, pale skin or blue lips, fainting and dizziness.'
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What seemed so close was a full three hours away still. A pillar of lava burst into the sky, glowing against the dusk. Around me, others gasped. Many reached for their phones and cameras. I stood in stunned silence. I wanted this image and memory etched in my mind before I tainted it with a camera lens. The eruption lit up the sky again and again throughout the night and early morning. I had barely slept. It was pitch black, and we were pushing through heavy sand and ash now. Two steps forward, a half step back. Mounds of crumbling dirt rose on either side, forming a slithering trail as we dipped down into the ravine and steadily rose up the other side. There was a moment, somewhere above the clouds, when I paused and turned around. The mountain where we camped, Acatenango, towered behind me, massive and ancient. Beneath its surface were deep, dark scars—grooves cut through the rock by old lava flows, now overgrown with stubborn green. I stood there, breathless from exertion and awe, already dripping sweat. I realized something that made me pause: The looming walls of dirt both engulfing me and forming my own path were the same. From the fog of sickness and the sting of IV needles, I was now coursing through the hazy vein of the mountain. The same burning force that had once destroyed this path had also shaped it—created it, even. And now, I traced it. My own body, too, bore scars—seen and unseen. Pain had carved through me, but it had also made this journey possible. I wasn't walking despite my pain. I was walking with it and becoming something through it. I was, by every definition, weak. But I was so strong. I was breathing hard—nearly wheezing—as the icy wind whipped against my face. My legs were leaden. My fingers were stiff and swollen. I stopped more than I moved. But I wasn't alone. Step by step, I made it to the top. There—at 13,045 feet—the sun rose above the world in every color imaginable—and some not even the most creative mind could fathom. Aerial view of Antigua, Guatemala. Tess Moormans/Life Through A Lense We stood in silence as clouds drifted below us and light spilled across the neighboring volcanic ridges—Agua Volcano to the left, Pacaya to the right. I was standing on Fuego in the shadow of Acatenango. Ironically, the name means 'Walled Place,' and here, I felt the walls placed around me come crumbling down. All I kept thinking was how everyone told me I couldn't—and how they weren't here to see this view. I reached my grimy, dirt-covered hand down to pet the dog in blatant defiance of my instructions not to be around or touch animals. I didn't ever want to descend. The way down was almost harder than the trail up. I was slipping, sliding, and tumbling, joy erupting inside me. Whether or not we realize it, we each travel every day—through grief, joy, and fire. We each have our own personal Fuegos and Acatenangos to face. Mine just happened to be a real one. When I returned from Guatemala, my lupus didn't vanish. But I proved that 'can't' is just a word. Acatenango didn't cure me, but it reminded me my journey didn't end in a hospital bed. It started there. It was Christmas morning when I blinked awake to the beeping of a heart monitor, my body a battlefield and my future a blur. But it was through the mist of the mountain where I really opened my eyes. They told me I'd never hike again. That I might never walk unassisted. That I would have to live a smaller life, if I lived at all. But they weren't there when the sky split open and fire danced across it. They didn't see me rise through ash and altitude, gasping and shaking, clinging to a mountain that had known its own share of eruptions. They didn't see the girl with IV scars, windburned cheeks, and dirt under her fingernails reach the summit with a dog by her side and a defiant heart in her chest. I didn't conquer the mountain—I bled into it. Walking on the wounds it once carried, I learned how to live with mine. And when Fuego erupted, lighting the sky like a pulse, I knew I would never be the same. Not because I reached the summit, but because I learned I could keep rising—even while breaking.
