FDA updates Salata's jalapeño avocado dressing recall to highest-risk category

Salata Dressings received a Class I recall designation from the Food and Drug Administration for its Jalapeño Avocado Dressing, the agency's most serious recall category, covering more than 1,700 cases distributed across three states over potential salmonella contamination.

The Houston-based company initiated the voluntary recall on August 6 and announced it publicly on August 11. The FDA assigned the Class I classification on September 29, according to Newsweek. Under FDA guidelines, a Class I recall means the agency has determined a reasonable probability exists that contact with or consumption of the product will lead to serious adverse health consequences or death.

In total, 1,724 cases of the dressing are subject to the recall, packaged in either 12.5-fluid-ounce bottles or one-gallon jugs. The affected bottles carry best-by dates of November 5, 13, 18, or 25, 2026. The one-gallon jugs have best-by dates between October 6 and October 26, 2026. The product was distributed in Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, the FDA said.

According to Newsweek, the recall was triggered when Salata's jalapeño supplier alerted the company that the diced jalapeños incorporated into the dressing may carry salmonella and could have a connection to a broader FDA investigation into a multistate jalapeño outbreak. When Salata first went public with the recall, it covered only 12-ounce bottles that had been on sale at HEB grocery stores in Texas from July 13 through August 5.

Neither the company nor the FDA has reported any illnesses connected to the recalled dressing.

The broader jalapeño outbreak affected 488 people across 34 states and led to 65 hospitalizations, the FDA said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA declared that outbreak over last week, according to The New York Times. The probable source of the outbreak was traced to a grower in Sinaloa, Mexico, whose identity has not been disclosed publicly, operating as a supplier to Coast Citrus Distributors.

Consumers who have the recalled product should not eat it. Salata is advising customers to return affected bottles or jugs to the place of purchase for a full refund. Any surfaces or containers that may have come into contact with the dressing should be thoroughly cleaned to reduce the risk of cross-contamination, the company said.

According to the FDA, illness from salmonella generally sets in within 12 to 72 hours of eating tainted food and tends to run its course over four to seven days. Young children under five, elderly individuals, and those whose immune systems are compromised are at heightened risk of developing severe complications.