Put down that pizza slice from Trader Joe’s – metal shards found in over 35k cases of bread and pizza sold

It’s pizza time! What would you like as your toppings? Pepperoni? Mushrooms? Peppers? Pineapple? Ooh, how about some metal shards?

The Food and Drug Administration has launched an emergency recall of thousands of ready-to-eat pizza and bread products after metal shards were discovered in multiple products. The recall was initiated by manufacturer Bakkavor Foods, with the FDA reporting that:

“The firm discovered metal fragments in various bread products. They determined the cause to be roasted tomatoes provided by one of their ingredient suppliers.”

Around 35,000 cases of Basil Pesto and Mozzarella Pizza and 24,000 cases of roasted tomato and parmesan focaccia have been recalled, which were among products being sold by Trader Joe’s, Frederik’s by Meijer, Harris Teeter, and Fresh & Simple. 

Urgent food recall hits pizzas and bread sold at major chains in ten states over metal fears https://t.co/awG7YRReLd

— Daily Mail US (@Daily_MailUS) March 30, 2026

Use-by dates for the affected products ranged from April 27 through to October 15, and they were distributed in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia (and were also shipped to consumers through HelloFresh).

Official advice is to simply toss any product you think might be affected into the trash, or return it to the store you bought it from for a refund.

Huh, that was a suspiciously crunchy pizza…

But what if you’ve recently eaten a pizza with some suspiciously shiny and hard-to-chew silver lumps in it? Well, this is a Class II recall, meaning that

“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.”

Well, that’s a relief. It appears that munching on metal fragments probably won’t kill you, but will instead leave you with “temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences”. But, let’s face it, that’s still not ideal, so if you suspect there are bits of metal in your pizza, don’t eat it. Not even if you’re really, really hungry!

This isn’t the first time bits of metal have shown up in the food supply. Just this year alone 9, 500lb of Bremer Family Size Italian Style Meatballs (sold at Aldi) were recalled after a consumer found metal fragments inside. The USDA classified it as a potential choking or injury hazard, but no illnesses or injuries were confirmed.

In 2025, Chomps snack sticks, Ada Valley Frozen Ground Beef, and Chef’s Line 3 Grain Burgers were all recalled after pieces of metal were discovered in them. These situations generally result after metal is shed by machines during the manufacture of processed food. Companies routinely pass food through metal detectors before packaging in order to avoid this, but it seems a few get through to shelves.

You can be reassured that accidental metal in food doesn’t ever have appeared to have killed anyone. Far more dangerous is contamination by lethal bacteria like Listeria, E.coli, and Salmonella, which have actually killed unsuspecting diners. For example, E.coli ending up in McDonald’s onions made over 100 quarter-pounder purchasers seriously ill, even killing one person.

There’s no real way around this as a customer. You’re going to simply have to trust that, most of the time, these major food manufacturers are following safety and hygiene guidelines. However, if you suspect your food is contaminated, just take a peek on the FDA website to see if there’s a recall, as doctors agree that you don’t want random bits of metal floating around inside you.