14 Of The Biggest Walmart Great Value Brand Recalls In History

From salmonella outbreaks to foreign material contamination, Walmart's Great Value label has seen its fair share of recalls since the store brand was launched in 1993. Because it's the nation's largest retailer, with 4,700 stores and 1.6 million associates in the U.S. alone, it's not surprising that a few of our favorite Great Value products are recalled on occasion, even with the company's dedication to value and safety.

While it would be a mistake to assume that the Great Value brand is inferior to competitors, understanding the magnitude of potentially dangerous products on the shelves of your local Walmart is important so you can keep your family safe from harm. Some of the recalls we feature here affected just a few states, while others are spread across the nation — and some of these safety concerns are still active. So, if you're curious about the biggest Walmart Great Value brand recalls in history, read on. We included which products were involved, its impact to consumers, and what you should do if you still have these products in your pantry.

One of Walmart's biggest Great Value brand recalls occurred in 2006 when the company issued the first peanut butter-related salmonella recall in U.S. history. The tainted jars were made in ConAgra's facility in Sylvester, Georgia. 

After the state health department and CDC noticed a significant increase in the reported number of salmonella illnesses, the agencies launched an investigation. They discovered that the outbreak was strongly associated with the consumption of Great Value peanut butter. The plant ceased production and recalled the product in February 2007, but not before the damage was done. In May of that year, an astonishing 628 people were sick with salmonella, with 20% of patients hospitalized. 

While cases of Salmonella quickly spread across 47 states, the highest concentration of sick consumers were in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri. Thankfully, the contaminated peanut butter didn't result in any deaths, yet it's still one of the biggest food recalls that will always haunt Walmart.

In July of 2010, Walmart issued one of its biggest recalls ever, and this time it was for the company's Great Value chicken nuggets. This class III recall impacted a whopping 91,872 pounds of the product due to the possibility of containing foreign materials. Thanks to consumer complaints, the company found small pieces of blue plastic in the meat. The 1-pound, 13-ounce bags of fully cooked chicken nuggets were produced by Perdue Farms, Inc. out of Perry, Georgia, and came in a case of eight bags.

Thankfully, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) didn't receive any reports of injury, and the product's class III rating is the lowest level for recalls, as consuming the product is unlikely to cause any significant health concerns. Rest assured this governmental organization routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify that retailers, like Walmart, notify its customers of the issue and takes steps to ensure affected products are removed from shelves.

This retail giant had another salmonella scare, this time in 2016. Walmart issued a recall for its Great Value original macaroni and cheese cups because the powdered milk ingredient used to season the product tested positive for salmonella. TreeHouse Foods Inc. produced 4 million pounds of contaminated powdered milk that was used in a variety of products, including Walmart's private label brand of mac and cheese cups. 

The good news is that no salmonella illnesses were reported by the FDA as a result of eating the affected product. However, a salmonella recall is nothing to sneeze at. While most individuals will likely recover from a salmonella infection without the need for antibiotics, seniors and infants are more likely to have a serious adverse reaction to the bacteria, such as severe diarrhea that may even require hospitalization.

Plastic bits aren't the only thing consumers found in their Walmart poultry products. The company issued a recall for frozen Great Value chicken patties because they contained metal pieces. The recall was issued in March of 2017 after the manufacturer, OK Foods, received complaints from five concerned shoppers. This recall affected a total of 1 million pounds of chicken across several brands, including this retailer's store label. Following an investigation by the USDA, it was determined that the metal objects came from a conveyor belt at the Oklahoma-based processing plant.

The recall affected 7.5-pound packages of Great Value fully cooked herb seasoned breaded chicken breast patties with rib meat. Walmart advised consumers to check the labels on packages purchased with the case code 201258 and best if used date of March 2018. Fortunately, the metal pieces didn't cause any injuries or illness, which is exactly what a recall is intended to do: protect consumers from these types of factory mishaps.

Eggs always seem to be in the news for one reason or another, and in this case, they're the subject of one of the biggest recalls ever for Salmonella Braenderup. Walmart's Great Value label was one of five brands affected by the April 2017 outbreak, in which more than 206.7 million shelled eggs were recalled across 10 states, including Colorado, New York, and West Virginia. Rose Acre Farms provided the retail giant with its share of the eggs under the Great Value label and the producer's Hyde County, North Carolina, farm was the likely source of the contaminated products.

Salmonella Braenderup ranks in the top 10 for most common types of bacterial infections affecting people in the U.S. It comes with symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting. By June, 45 people were afflicted with salmonella and 11 were hospitalized, making it one of the worst egg recalls to hit America. Thankfully, the multistate outbreak was short-lived, ending after just two months.

In 2019, a recall was issued for 6,444 pounds of Great Value ready-to-eat pork and turkey sausage patties due to possible salmonella contamination. The affected patties were produced by Georges Prepared Foods out of Caryville, Tennessee, and shipped to Walmart stores across the country. The retailer's 24.92-ounce and 35.6-ounce packages of original pork sausage patties and the 24.92-ounce packages of original breakfast turkey patties were all included in the recall.

The manufacturer blamed its third-party cold storage facility for distributing the tainted meat products to Walmart's retail locations in error. Thankfully, the meat wasn't responsible for any reported illnesses. Salmonella is one of the most common foodborne pathogens reported by the FDA, and everyone is at risk of infection, because in addition to ready-to-eat meats, many kinds of food can become contaminated with this bacteria.

Pancakes and waffles are a terrific way to start your day, in our opinion anyway, but who wants cable fragments in your breakfast? That's why Walmart recalled its Great Value buttermilk pancake and waffle mix in March of 2022. This foreign matter contamination sparked an investigation by the FDA when pieces of cable used in the manufacturing processing at the plant located in Tukwila, Washington, were found in the company's store-brand pancake and waffle mixes.

The tainted products were distributed nationwide through Walmart's retail locations. Continental Mills told Consumer Reports, "food safety systems did detect the fragments, and out of an abundance of caution we took action to ensure the product was identified and pulled from store shelves." While no consumer complaints were reported, if you still have this product in your pantry, despite its one-year shelf life (no judgement here, we hoard the good stuff, too), throw it away immediately as it's too late to return it to the store for a refund.

Americans love our ham; so much so that we gobble up an average of 51 pounds per person each year. But what happened to Great Value's ready-to-eat black forest ham back in May 2022? The FSIS urged Walmart to issue a public health alert for consumers in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio who may have purchased these 1-pound resealable plastic packages of under-processed meat.

The retail giant informed its shoppers that this Great Value product should not be consumed because the affected ham may not have been fully cooked at the factory. The Swift Prepared Foods facility produced the packaged meat at its Council Bluffs, Iowa, facility before shipping it to Walmart stores in three states. There were no confirmed reports of any adverse reactions from customers due to the under cooked ham. Walmart was fortunate and really avoided a catastrophe with this meat-related recall.

Hepatitis A is a viral infection that affects the liver and it's often transmitted by eating contaminated food, like Walmart's recalled frozen fruit from June of 2023. The retailer announced a recall of all products containing these organic strawberries grown in Baja California, Mexico. Store officials indicated that its affected products were packaged by Willamette Valley Fruit Co. out of Salem, Oregon, and included the 64-ounce package of sliced strawberries, the 64-ounce package of mixed fruit, and its 40-ounce antioxidant blend.

The contaminated fruit was sold in 32 Walmart stores across the country from California to New York. Because these items were sold frozen and have a long shelf-life of up to two years, we suggest you check your freezer to ensure you don't have any hiding in there. While most people recover from the disease's mild to severe symptoms, a small number of people die from the disease each year. In this Great Value case, there were a reported 10 foodborne illnesses and four hospitalizations related to the hepatitis A strawberry recall. Interestingly, the virus was genetically identical to the strain that caused Walmart's 2022 strawberry-related outbreak.

While listeria infections are rare in the U.S., Walmart's Great Value chicken-containing products were included in a recall of a whopping 11,765,285 pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products due to listeria contamination. Three of the retailer's store brand products were affected by the recall in May of 2024, including 28-ounce packages of southwestern style chicken and pasta meal with a best used by date of August 16, 2025. Also included were 28-ounce containers of creamy chicken and pasta meal with best used dates of August 1, August 2, and September 3, 2025, as well as the 10-ounce box of chicken fettuccine alfredo that's set to expire on August 12, 2025.

The FSIS performed routine testing of the finished products and confirmed they were positive for Listeria monocytogenes. The packager, BrucePac in Durant, Oklahoma, produced the tainted products. While there are currently no confirmed reports of adverse reactions, the products haven't expired yet and consuming them could be detrimental to your health. We recommend tossing them in the trash or returning them to Walmart for a refund.

Americans were also affected by a recall of Great Value apple juice in August of 2024. Walmart took an astounding 9,535 cases of the 8-ounce plastic apple juice bottles off its shelves because the product contained potentially harmful levels of inorganic arsenic above industry standards: 13.2 parts per billion (ppb) compared to the maximum allowed of 10 ppb. The juice was packaged by Florida-based distributor Refresco Beverages U.S. Inc. and affected Walmart stores in 27 states. This class II recall indicates exposure to the apple juice could cause temporary or medically reversible health conditions.

While it is a naturally occurring substance, arsenic is a known carcinogen and is toxic to people of all ages. However, young children are particularly at risk for arsenic-related health problems because of their lower body weight and rapid metabolism. More than 80% of parents give their children 3 and younger fruit juice, like this Great Value product, and the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that "exposure to these metals early on can affect their whole life trajectory."

A recall of Walmart's Great Value fruit cups affected nearly a million packages of food in September of 2024 that were found to contain an undeclared ingredient: FD&C red dye no. 3. The class III recall was one of the company's biggest, affecting 511,164 packages of the store's private label 4-ounce, 12-pack containers of diced yellow cling peaches, mandarin orange segments, and cherry mixed fruits variety packs. Another 341,567 packages of 4-ounce plastic cups of cherry mixed fruit were also included in the recall.

Red dye No. 3 is a synthetic dye that gives foods a bright, cherry-red color, and has been under scrutiny since the 1980s. Studies show that exposure to high levels of the colorant caused cancer in laboratory rats. The FDA banned the use of red dye no. 3 in food in January 2025 in response to the Center for Science in the Public Interest's color additive petition of 2022. The FDA currently requires manufacturers to include the red coloring agent in its list of ingredients when added to food and has given companies a deadline of January 15, 2027, to reformulate its products — minus the banned substance.

Unfortunately, 2024 was a big year for recalls at Walmart. The retailer's Great Value cinnamon rolls and cheese Danishes were also affected by foreign object contamination troubles in November, specifically pieces of plastic. The baked goods' producer, JM Smucker Company LLC., shipped 2,027 cases of affected cinnamon rolls and 1,602 cases of cheese Danishes to Walmart store locations nationwide that were later deemed unsafe to eat by the FDA. This voluntary, class II recall number F-0140-2025 specified that the products were marked with UPC numbers 078742201177 and 078742201160 and lot number L092525200 269X.

An unsettling 43,548 16.5-ounce packages of these bakery items were reportedly exposed to the plastic bits at the manufacturer's Orrville, Ohio, plant. This is yet another example of the increasing number of foreign material contaminant recalls affecting brands like Great Value. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries as a result of the plastic pieces in these Walmart products.

There was one more recall from Great Value at the end of 2024, this time for its chicken broth. The retailer issued a class II recall in December of that year due to poor packaging of the broth produced by TreeHouse Foods Inc. There were 2,023 cases of the 48-ounce chicken broth recalled because the suspected packaging issues might lead to product spoilage. The recall involved a total of 242 stores in nine states. As last reported, both Walmart and its supplier are still investigating what caused the manufacturing mishap.

Even though there have been no reported illnesses blamed on the chicken broth to date, the product does have a shelf-life that lasts until March 25, 2026. We recommend checking your pantry for lot code 98F09234 or UPC number 007874206684, and if you find a potentially contaminated container of chicken broth, discard it right away, then consider restocking. We put Great Value's chicken broth up against Aldi's, and it came out tops in our book.