Once Upon a Farm recalls toddler snack bars nationwide over choking risk

Once Upon a Farm, the Berkeley, California-based organic baby and toddler food company co-founded by the actress Jennifer Garner, has recalled every lot and flavor of its Tractor Wheels Organic Toddler Soft-Baked Bars nationwide after regulators linked the snack to a choking hazard in young children. The recall notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration says the bars can turn into a dense, dry and sticky mass once they mix with saliva and are chewed, a texture the agency says is difficult to clear by conventional means once lodged in a toddler's airway.

What triggered the recall

The company's announcement, dated October 30 and published on the FDA's site on November 2, says the decision followed three consumer complaints reported to the agency describing choking episodes in toddlers roughly 18 months to two-and-a-half years old, the age range the recall notice identifies as most at risk. The FDA's own posting states that no injuries have been reported to date, even as it classifies the hazard as serious enough to pull every variety of the product from shelves.

News organizations that reviewed the underlying complaints, including ABC News and Pittsburgh's WPXI, reported that the incidents described children experiencing what the outlets characterized as complete airway obstruction and an inability to breathe, with some cases requiring emergency response and hospital observation before the children recovered. Both outlets reported that standard interventions such as back blows and the Heimlich maneuver did not always dislodge the chewed bar.

The recall covers every size and flavor sold under the Tractor Wheels name: Strawberry, Pumpkin & Beet; Apple, Sweet Potato & Spinach; and Banana, Pumpkin & Cauliflower, in five-count, ten-count and 20- and 30-count variety packs, as well as online-only sampler boxes that bundle the bars with other Once Upon a Farm snacks. All lot codes and best-by dates are included, including expired product that may still be sitting in a pantry. The company says the bars reached stores and households nationwide, including Puerto Rico, through online sales and retail distribution; regional coverage of the recall has named Costco, Target and Walmart among the retailers that carried the product, alongside Amazon and other third-party sellers.

A fast-growing brand's second recall in two years

Once Upon a Farm was founded in 2015 by Cassandra Curtis and Ari Raz to sell cold-pressured, pouch-packaged organic baby food as a refrigerated alternative to shelf-stable jars. John Foraker, previously president of Annie's, joined as chief executive in 2017, the same year Garner signed on as co-founder and chief brand officer, lending the startup a visibility that helped it expand from pouches into toddler snack bars, meals and other products sold in large national chains. The company's growth has made its recalls more consequential than those of a smaller private-label brand would be, simply because of how widely its products are distributed.

This is not the company's first recall. In 2024, Once Upon a Farm voluntarily pulled a toddler meal, Organic Plant-Rich Meal Curried Carrots & Beans, over possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, the bacterium that can cause severe illness in young children. No link between that earlier action and the current choking recall has been reported, but the repeat episode has drawn attention from food-safety writers to the company's quality-control track record as it has scaled.

Choking on food is already one of the more common causes of nonfatal injury in young children, independent of any single product. A study led by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Nationwide Children's Hospital, published in the journal Pediatrics, estimated that more than 12,000 children were treated annually in U.S. emergency departments for food-related choking over a nine-year study period, with children under five accounting for the majority of cases. The CDC's current guidance on choking hazards advises caregivers to cut soft but dense foods into small pieces and to supervise toddlers closely while they eat, noting that children's narrow airways and developing chewing ability leave them more vulnerable than older children or adults.

Company response and what parents should do

In a statement, Once Upon a Farm said it was moving quickly once the complaints came to its attention. "We are sorry for the worry and disruption this has caused parents, caregivers, and our retail partners," the company said in the recall announcement. According to Foraker, quoted by ABC News, the company is reformulating the Tractor Wheels bars as part of a broader review of the product line, adding: "We fell short of that, and that is why we are taking these aggressive actions."

"We are sorry for the worry and disruption this has caused parents, caregivers, and our retail partners," Once Upon a Farm said in its recall statement.

The FDA and the company are telling consumers not to open or eat any remaining Tractor Wheels bars, regardless of flavor or expiration date, and not to serve them to toddlers or other children. Shoppers are instructed to return the product to the place of purchase for a full refund or to contact the company directly at [email protected] or 1-888-983-1606 for guidance. Because food recalls fall under the FDA rather than the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which handles most children's product recalls listed on its own site, parents should not expect this one to appear in CPSC databases.

The company has not published a timeline for when a reformulated version of the bars might return to shelves, and it is unclear whether additional complaints have reached the FDA since the recall was announced. The agency's enforcement reports are typically updated as a recall is classified and as retailers confirm they have removed the product, a process that can take several weeks to complete for a snack sold as widely as Tractor Wheels was.