NC coffee shops facing nationwide recall over deadly botulism toxin risk, FDA says
Multiple coffee shops and grocery stores across North Carolina are pulling some of their products off the shelves because of potential botulism — a fatal form of food poisoning.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a voluntary recall for all canned coffee products manufactured by Snapchil sold in cafes and coffee shops across the country because their “current process could lead to the growth and production of the deadly toxin, botulinum toxin.”
“The problem was identified when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified Snapchill that the low acid canned foods process for manufacturing the recalled products was not filed with FDA, as is required by regulation,” the FDA said in the announcement.
According to the FDA, the canned products were distributed nationwide through dozens of coffee roasters and retail shops, including several in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas:
Enderly Coffee Co: Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins, Mattie’s Diner and Rhino Market coffees
Five Star Coffee Roasters: Nitro coffee
Knowledge Perk Coffee Company: KP coffee, App State, Dirt World, Charlotte FC, Summer Shandy, VESL and Winthrop coffee
Larry’s Coffee: Black, decaf, Ethiopia, mocha and sweet coffee
Summit Coffee: Black coffee
“The manufacturer Snapchill had an error in their documentation with the FDA. As a result, any products in stock that they manufactured have to be destroyed,” a Summit Coffee team member, who said their recalled drinks were only used for events, told The Observer. “It is super unfortunate, but they have indicated that they are offering entire product refunds. There are certainly other coffee companies that are way more impacted than we are.”
The recall is only for canned drinks of the listed flavors noted by the FDA so other products sold by coffee shops and cafes are not at risk of containing the toxin.
“Larry’s coffee bags are fine! Delicious, fresh and safe as always,” Larry Larson of Larry’s Coffee in Raleigh said. “In terms of all of our bagged coffees, we roast and bag all of our beans at our own organic-certified facility here in Raleigh, NC on Gavin Street. And they’re awesome as ever. I’m proud to say in over 30 years, we’ve never had a single safety issue.”
Botulism can cause general weakness, dizziness, double-vision and trouble with speaking or swallowing, the FDA says, along with difficulty breathing, muscle weakness and constipation.
At this time, the FDA says no illnesses have been reported and Snapchill is not aware of any products — which are sold in a variety of metal cans with different brand names — that contain botulin toxin. The products are marked with a description that “Produced and distributed by Snapchill LLC” underneath the nutrition facts panel or “Snapchill Coffee” on the label. If you do have any of the potentially affected drinks, you should either throw it away or return it for a refund.
Larry’s Coffee general manager Garrett White said the recall means several thousands of its canned cold brews will be destroyed. White said the timing of the recall is a gut punch, as North Carolina enters a summer heat wave.
“We’re hitting peak summer when sales tend to go up,” White said in a phone interview. “Our main business is roasting coffee, so that is unaffected. But when it’s 90 degrees people want to drink cold coffee.”
Here is the full list of coffee roaster companies that have some products that were affected by the recall:
41 & Change
Alchemy Roasting
Amavida
Appalachia Coffee
Baba Java Coffee
Bent Tree Coffee
Big Iron
Big Mouth Coffee
Big Shoulders
BKG
Black Acres
Black Nerd
Blind
Bold Bean
Bolt Coffee
Borealis
Brandywine
BRL
Broadsheet
Burwell
Cafe Ammi
Cape Cod Coffee
Carrier
Cerberus Coffee
Coffee Hound
Coffee N Clothes
Coffee Project NY
Color Coffee
Connect Coffee
Copper Horse
Coterie Coffee
Crankshaft Coffee
Cup to Cup
Dave’s Coffee
Dayglow
Daysol Coffee
Dead Sled
Doughnut Plant
Downeast Coffee
Dreamy
Driply
East End
Eclipse Coffee Roasters
Electro Brew Coffee Co.
Element Coffee
Emergency Medical Coffee
Enderly Coffee
Euphoria Coffee
Farmhouse
Fazenda
Fika
Fire Grounds
First Crack C/O Sound Coffee
Five & Hoek
Five Star Roasters
Flight
Gay Awakening Coffee
George Howell
Gigawatt
Goldberry Roasting Company
Gooseneck Coffee Co.
Gryphon Coffee
Heady Cup
Heart Coffee
Heine Bros
Helm
Honest Coffee
Hustle N’ Grind
Intelligentsia
Joe Bean
Kahawa 1893
Kaldi’s
Knowledge Perk
Kribi Coffee
Kuva Coffee
La Cosecha
Lanna Coffee
Larry’s Coffee
Little Wolf
Ludwig
Mad Priest
Madcap Coffee
Maple Leaf Coffee Roasters
Medici
Metric
Mighty Good Coffee Co.
Mocha Joe
Molon Labe
Mudd LLC
Neighbor Coffee
New Hampshire Coffee Roasters
New Harvest
Northern Coffeeworks
OFFSET Coffee
Opus Coffee
Others Coffee
Paper Plane Coffee Co.
Peaks Coffee Co.
Perkatory
Perla
Pettibone
Pink Elephant
Play Coffee
Quartertone Coffee
QUIVR
Rabble & Lion
Radial Coffee
Ragged
Rarebird
Red Rooster
Retrograde Coffee
Rock City
Rockford Coffee
Rusty Dog
Sacred Grounds
Saltwater
Seaworthy Coffee
Sepia Coffee
Shirazi Dist.
Slacktide
Sleeping Giant Coffee Roasters
Slow Bloom Coffee
Snowy Owl
Southeastern Roastery
Spot Coffee
Springline
Square One Coffee
Stack St.
Summit Coffee
Sur Coffee
The Boy & The Bear
The Well Coffeehouse
Three Tree Coffee Roaster
Tinker
Tipico
Touchy Coffee
Traction
True Love Coffee Co.
Underwood
Upshot
Verb
Victoria Coffee
Vivid
Waypost
White Bison
White Rhino
Wild Goose Coffee
You can find more information about the recall, including which specific flavors from the affected coffee companies could be contaminated, online at www.fda.gov.
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