FDA Issues Huge Recall of Salmon: This Fish May Be Deadly

If you love smoked salmon, you might want to check the date on your salmon in your fridge before eating it. An FDA recall of smoked salmon from a popular chain of retail stores was recently reclassified as a Class 1 recall, the highest risk level available.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a recall for Kirkland Signature brand smoked salmon, sold at Costco, for possible Listeria Monocytogenes contamination in October of 2024, but the recall was recently readjusted to Class 1, the highest risk level, which the FDA defines on its website as “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

The recall specifically affects 111 cases of Kirkland Signature Smoked Salmon in twin 12 ounce packages, UPC 0 96619 25697 6, Lot 8512801270 with the best by date of 11/13/2024.

What Makes This Recall So Deadly?

In order to understand why this recall is so dangerous, lets take a look at why the FDA decided to use this Class 1 label for this recall. The US Food and Drug Administration classifies product recalls into three classes based on the level of health risk:

Class I: The most severe recall, with a high probability of serious injury or death
Class II: A medium severity recall, with a lower chance of serious injury or death, but still a possibility
Class III: The least severe recall, with a low probability of causing adverse health consequences

The FDA classifies recalls to help consumers, distributors, and stores know which products to remove from the market. Recalls can be initiated by the manufacturer, the FDA, or both.

Examples of recalls

Class I recall: A product that could cause serious injury or death if used

Class II recall: A product that could cause temporary or reversible health consequences, or a remote chance of serious injury or death

Class III recall: A product that is not likely to cause adverse health consequences, or the risk is negligible. The FDA also issues market withdrawals for products with minor violations that don’t require legal action.

Brooklyn-based Acme Smoked Fish Corporation, which manufactures the product for the Washington-based big box chain, originally recalled 111 cases of smoked salmon in late October after laboratory testing confirmed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes.

The smoked salmon, which was distributed between October 9, 2024 and October 13, 2024 to the Southeast Costco Distribution Center in West Palm Beach, Florida and Costco Warehouse stores in Florida, was sold at “select” Costco locations in the southeastern United States.

If you purchased a recalled product, the FDA recommends returning it to Costco for a full refund.

How To Tell if Your Fish is Bad?

Look at the Date:

Raw fish doesn’t last very long in a refrigerator and begins to go bad soon after the sell-by date. Look for the sell-by date on the packaging. If more than 1 or 2 days have passed since that date, throw the fish out.

If you’d like to delay the expiration of refrigerated fish, put it in the freezer. Frozen fish can last indefinitely if kept at 0 °F (−18 °C) but is best used within 3 to 8 months.

If the fish has a use-by date rather than a sell-by date, avoid keeping the fish past that date. “Use-by” indicates that fish will begin to spoil if it’s not eaten by the printed date.

No matter how good it looks, be sure to toss refrigerated raw fish 2 days after the sell-by date.

How Does It Look:

Look for a slimy coating on raw fish.

As fish ages and begins to go bad, its outer surface will become wetter and eventually develop a thin layer of slime. This is a good sign that your fish has already started to spoil. Once the fish has fully spoiled, the slimy moisture on the meat will feel thick and slippery to the touch.

Cooked fish will not develop a slimy coating, even after it’s started to go bad.

What Should It Smell Like?

Bad raw or cooked fish has a pungent, fishy aroma.

All fish—raw or cooked—smells like fish. However, refrigerated fish that has started to go bad will have an increasingly fishy smell. If given enough time, this potent fish smell will develop into the putrid smell of rotting meat.

As fish continues to spoil, its pungent fish smell will grow stronger and stronger. It’s best to discard fish as soon as it starts to smell “off.”

Even in the Freezer, Fish Can Go Bad Quickly

Yes, the freezer can keep stuff healthier for a longer period of time than the refrigerator, but If frozen fish has freezer burn, it’s likely bad.

If you’ve kept fish in the freezer for over 9 months, it may begin showing signs of freezer burn. Look for crystallized peaks of ice that have formed on the surface of the fish, and note any discolored patches as well.

Freezer-burned food is still technically edible, and it will not make you sick. However, fish will lose most of its flavor and take on a grainy texture as freezer burn sets in.

By Nutritionist Mary Toscano | Published January 27, 2025