While a car recall is one notice I never ignore, I can’t ever remember throwing out a single food or beverage, or pet-food product, because of a recall.

Hundreds of food recalls happen each year so they can be hard to keep track of, even though I follow the FDA’s recall notice page and read about recalls every day.

In the case of a current recall, the list of recalled products is so long it would take quite an effort to go through every drawer and cabinet in my kitchen, bathrooms and the “extra” refrigerator in my garage.

Apparently I’m not alone.

A small minority of people actually pay attention to most recalls, which food experts say is a mistake.

“Only 13% of Americans have ever visited a government website for food recall information, and just 3% are subscribed to emails or text alerts,” Behavioral Scientist and Professor at Rutgers University William Hallman said at the May 2025 Food Safety Summit, according to reporting by Food & Wine.

But this latest recall, a widespread warehouse contamination, has prompted the FDA to recall thousands of everyday products. The products include medication and pet food, soft drinks and candy, and all seem unrelated: what they have in common is that they were stored in the same distribution facility in Minnesota.

<em>Bottles of Tylenol are part of a sweeping recall. </em>Photo by VALERIE MACON on Getty Images Bottles of Tylenol are part of a sweeping recall. Photo by VALERIE MACON on Getty Images

The new recall affects brand-name products like Tylenol, Aleve, and Advil; candy, including Haribo Gummy Bears, Sour Patch candies, and Twix; beverages such as Welch’s Grape Juice and Coffee Mate, and Purina dog and cat food, among many other categories.

Gold Star Distribution LLC, a wholesale distributor based in Minnesota, issued the recall on December 26, “due to the presence of rodent and avian contamination” at its Minneapolis facility.

The recall was not issued by the manufacturers themselves but applies only to products stored at or distributed through Gold Star’s Minneapolis facility.

“Products held under insanitary conditions may become contaminated through
contact with contaminated surfaces or exposure to airborne particulates associated
with animal waste. Exposure to contaminated products can pose serious health
risks to consumers, including the potential for bacterial contamination, which may
result in illness or infection, including Salmonella,” the announcement says.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined that the facility was operating under insanitary conditions, including the presence of rodent excreta, rodent urine and bird droppings in areas where medical devices, drugs, human food, pet food and cosmetic products were held,” according to the official FDA statement.

Related: Voluntary vs. mandatory food recalls: what you should know

Even when a recall gets widespread media attention like this one, many consumers don’t take action. When companies use phrases like “out of an abundance of caution” or “no illnesses reported to date,” it can make it sound like the situation is not urgent.

In this case, ethough, experts say the scale of the recall — one that includes more than 2,000 items — makes it worth the effort. Consumers who live in the affected states will want to check their cupboards and refrigerators because contamination occurred at the distribution level rather than during manufacturing.

The following list is just a sample of the products affected; see the full list on this FDA alert, which includes lot numbers and sell-by dates.

  • Advil (Ibuprofen)

  • Aleve

  • Alka-Seltzer

  • Benadryl

  • Bayer

  • Claritin

  • DayQuil

  • NyQuil

  • Excedrin

  • Motrin

  • Purina

  • Fancy Feast

  • Friskies

  • 9 Lives

No illnesses have been reported to date, but consumers and retailers who purchased the affected products should not return them to grocers and should instead destroy the products as soon as possible.

Customers who have questions can contact Gold Star at 612-617-9800, 7 days a week, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Central Standard Time.

Products should not be shipped back to Gold Star under any circumstances. Gold Star will provide refunds upon request.

  • Forward Farms Grass-Fed Ground Beef, contaminated with E. coli O26. Nearly 3,000+ pounds of raw ground beef recalled due to potential E. coli contamination; distributed to retailers in CA, CO, ID, MT, PA & WA, as reported in AP News.

  • Prepared pasta meals, contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The 2025 FDA recall of prepared, frozen and ready-to-eat pasta meals involved a multistate Listeria outbreak. Multiple people died and even more were hospitalized, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  • Frozen shrimp, contaminated with radioactive Cesium-137. The 2025 FDA recall of imported shrimp contaminated with cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Retail section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.