Why Trader Joe's Always Seems To Have So Many Recalls

It feels like Trader Joe's is often in the news for food recalls, even if it's not the only one. (Costco recently recalled its chicken fried rice due to a risk of glass shards, for example.) There have been some big Trader Joe's recalls over the years which affected soups, cookies, and cheeses that were pulled from store shelves due to listeria contamination and literal rocks in the food. Something like glass shards or rocks are less typical than the more common causes of food recalls (undeclared allergens or failure to meet food safety laws), but is Trader Joe's doing anything especially wrong?

That's a hard question to answer. Trader Joe's openly says the company errs on the side of extreme caution and that stores will aggressively remove items from shelves and issue refunds if there's any risk of danger. Still, the company's recalls have grown common enough that some employees are feeling pressure from customers. The surge in problems — especially odd problems like glass and rocks — could mean that Trader Joe's isn't sourcing its foods from farms or factories which prioritize safety measures to the same degree it proclaims. However, grocery chains aren't always public about where they source their products, making it difficult to track consistently.

This many recalls may point to larger issues in a complex supply chain. Stores buy from manufacturers, who buy ingredients from farms and other suppliers, and the problem can lie at any of those stages. The 37 million pounds of frozen fried rice which were recalled earlier this year didn't just affect Trader Joe's, for example. It came from Anjinomoto Foods North America in Oregon, which also sold the contaminated fried rice to Kroger.

This past year saw fairly regular recalls, but it was still 300 fewer recalls than the year before. Even still, customers are noticing the rise in recalls and are right to wonder. One explanation could be improved methods for detecting contaminated food, which means we may just be catching more problems than before. These recalls often begin when either the store comes across the problem (when faulty products are returned) or when local clusters of illness are detected. We may simply be catching these problems faster.

Regardless of how often it happens, your focus is likely (and justifiably) on staying up to date with the latest food recalls before you bite into anything. You can always go to the source at the FDA's official website which posts regular recall warnings about food companies based in the United States and that are under its jurisdiction. Beyond that, Trader Joe's reliably posts recall alerts on its website when something is caught, so keep an eye out.