Gatorade Recall Hits New York Shelves

More than 35 states have now been impacted by the nationwide Gatorade recall. The risk? the impacted drinks contain 'undeclared food colorings that could pose a risk to some consumers, this according to the FDA.

Gatorade bottles are stocked on a shelf

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FDA Warns of 'Undeclared Food Colorings' In Certain Gatorade Flavors

On October 2nd, the FDA announced the Gatorade recall classification as 'Class II' - with the reason being that certain flavors of the popular sport drink contained unlisted food colorings Yellow No. 5 and or Yellow No. 6. The impacted flavors are Gatorade Lemon Lime, Gatorade Lemon Lime Zero, Gatorade Orange and Gatorade Orange Zero.

According to PepsiCo, the 28oz single serve products in the flavors listed above are the only ones affected:

The products contain the standard Gatorade ingredients, but the ingredient panel does not accurately list all ingredients as required by the FDA.

 

The ingredient panel does not declare the presence of Yellow 5 on the Gatorade Lemon Lime and Gatorade Zero Lemon Lime; and Yellow 6 on the Gatorade Orange and Gatorade Zero Orange.

Gatorade bottles are neatly displayed on a shelf

The recall spans 37 states, and more than 122,000 cases in total are impacted. Though no formal FDA press release has gone out, PepsiCo initiated the recall back on September 25th and the list of impacted states has grown since the initial release.

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Class II Recall Explained

In their coverage of the Gatorade recall, Newsweek provided guidelines as to what makes a recall 'Class II'

The FDA defines a Class II recall as “a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences" or where the chance of serious harm is considered to be unlikely.

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Class I would imply a more significant injury, illness, even the possibility of death, the most serious type. In the other direction, a Class III is not likely to cause adverse health consequences, a Market withdrawal happens with a minor violation occurs that would not rise to the level of FDA legal action. Additional classification information and implications can be found here.