Retail giant Costco has recalled close to 80,000 pounds of butter due to an error on the packaging.
The FDA sent out an initial recall for 79,200 pounds of both unsalted and salted Kirkland Signature Sweet Cream Butter in October due to the label failing to say the product “contains milk.”
Packages for both variations include “cream” on the ingredients list, but that was not enough to avoid a recall. Costco created the Kirkland Signature line in 1995.
On November 7, the FDA classified the recall as Class II, which is “a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” per the administration’s website.
Reactions on social media were filled with mockery.
“80,000 pounds of Costco butter was just recalled, because the label doesn’t say that it contains milk. It’s butter. News articles are telling people how they can return, or safely dispose of, the butter. It’s butter,” one popular X reaction said.
Another commenter quipped, “Can y’all please safely dispose of it at my house? I have a lot of holiday baking to do.”
“But if the butter is mislabeled, consumers would literally be spreading misinformation—all over their toast, bagels, pancakes, baked potatoes, muffins—it’s too horrific to think about,” another joking response said.
Despite all the mockery, some social media users agreed with the recall.
“The laws exist to make sure that any food that contains a recognized allergen is labeled as such. Yeah in this case it seems silly, but how do you codify ‘you must label food that contains allergens, unless posters on Twitter decide that it’s obvious enough on its own’?” one person wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lists milk as one of the main foods that “account for most serious allergic reactions in the United States.”
