Gallons of Costco Salad Dressing Recalled in 27 States

The FDA announced the recall of 3,556 cases of salad dressing sold under Costco, Hidden Valley and Pepper Mill brand names due to the potential presence of foreign objects.

Juliette Fairley

Published: 12/19/2025, 3:16:10 PM EST

Gallons of Costco Salad Dressing Recalled in 27 States — A Costco Wholesale warehouse sign is seen outside of a store in Silver Spring, Md., on Aug. 5, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Gallons of salad dressings sold at Costco and six other retailers in 27 states were withdrawn this week, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The 3,556 cases of salad condiments were sold under Costco, Hidden Valley, and Pepper Mill brand names, according to an FDA alert.

The potential presence of foreign objects in the form of black plastic planting material found in granulated onion led Ventura Foods LLC of Irvine, California, to voluntarily recall its Italian Salad Dressing, Creamy Poblano Avocado Ranch Dressing and Dip, Ventura Caesar Dressing, Pepper Mill Regal Caesar Dressing, Pepper Mill Creamy Caesar Dressing, Costco Service Deli Ceasar Dressing, Costco Food Court Ceasar Dressing, and Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch.

Neither Ventura Foods LLC company leaders nor Costco company leaders responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.

The firm distributed the product to seven retail customers across 42 locations in Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Washington, Colorado, Arkansas, Texas, Ohio, North Dakota, and Oregon as well as one customer in Costa Rica.

A 2023 National Library of Medicine (NLM) review of foreign-material food contamination found that consuming plastic fragments can pose serious health risks, including choking, lacerations to the mouth or digestive tract, and infections, and in some cases may require surgical removal.

Plastic can enter the food supply through field environments, plant packaging materials, damaged pallets, or from employees during processing, according to NLM data.

The FDA assigned its second-highest risk alert to the November recall.

A Class 2 recall event is described on the FDA website as exposure to a product that may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences.

A Class 1 recall is defined as having a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to will cause serious adverse health consequences or death, while a Class 3 event involves products that violate regulations but are unlikely to cause health problems, such as minor labeling errors.

Earlier in December, the FDA announced the recall of macadamia nuts sold at Costco in Hawaii.

Concerns about the presence of Salmonella led American Nuts of Sylmar, California, to voluntarily withdraw its 20-ounce Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Co. Baking Nuts, according to a company recall notice.

The packages are labeled with Lot Code 307HMNC25L3 and were sold between Nov. 29 and Dec. 4 at the Costco Hawaii Kai warehouse in Honolulu.

American Nuts company leaders did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication, but urged customers in their company notice to refrain from eating the nuts and to return the product to a local Costco for a full refund.