OAK BROOK, ILL. — Private label food manufacturer TreeHouse Foods Inc. has expanded a recall of frozen waffles distributed in the United States and Canada.

On Oct. 18, TreeHouse announced a recall of more than 600 frozen waffle products because of potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The company said it discovered the issue during routine testing at its Brantford, Ont., manufacturing facility.

The recalled products, bearing certain UPC codes and “best by/use by” dates, were distributed under various brands and packed in various formats, TreeHouse said. The company noted that, thus far, there have been no confirmed reports of illness linked to the recalled products.

Then, on Oct. 22, TreeHouse expanded the recall to cover all products made at the Brantford facility that were still within their shelf life. Besides the initially announced frozen waffle items, the recall now includes another 200-plus frozen toaster waffle and Belgian waffle products and over 30 pancake products.

In the United States, the recall includes products sold or distributed by Ahold Delhaize USA chains Stop & Shop, Food Lion and Hannaford (store brands and Nature’s Promise brand); Albertsons and Safeway (O Organics, Signature Select); Aldi (Breakfast Best); Associated Wholesale Grocers (Always Save, Best Choice); Brookshire Grocery (store brand); Dollar General (Clover Valley); Giant Eagle (store brand, Nature’s Basket); Kroger and its Harris Teeter chain (Kroger, Harris Teeter, Simple Truth, Private Selection); H-E-B and its Central Market banner (store brands, Higher Harvest); Northeast Grocery’s Price Chopper and Tops Friendly Markets chains (PICS, Tops); Publix (store brand, GreenWise); Schnuck Markets (Schnucks); Southeastern Grocers (Essentials, SE Grocers); Target (Good & Gather); Trader Joe’s (store brand); United Natural Foods (Wild Harvest); Wegmans (store brand); Whole Foods Market (365 brand); and Walmart (Great Value, Bettergoods).

In Canada, the recall includes products sold by Walmart Canada (Great Value brand), Loblaw Cos. (no name, President’s Choice), Metro (Selection, Irresistibles Life Smart) and Sobeys (Compliments), as well as Breakfast Best and Foodhold items.

Also named in the recall were Conagra Brands’ Duncan Hines frozen waffles; Yelloh frozen waffles and pancakes; Gordon Food Service’s Gordon Choice frozen waffles and pancakes; Kodiak Cakes frozen waffles; Nature’s Path frozen waffles; Topco Associates’ Full Circle Market, Culinary Tours and Western Family frozen waffles; and Krusteaz frozen pancakes and waffles.

TreeHouse Foods couldn’t be reached for comment on the expanded recall.

“This incident reinforces our ongoing concern about the inconsistent performance of the company’s manufacturing assets, which is the key to success in any co-packing business,” TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow said in an Oct. 21 research note.

Moskow cited a 2023 recall involving TreeHouse’s broth business that led to the shutdown and restart of a broth processing plant, which has weighed on the company’s financial performance.

“For context, TreeHouse chose to rebuild an outdated broth facility last year after a product recall related to microbial contamination,” he said. “It is unclear at this time what steps they will take in frozen waffles, if any. Financially, the broth recall negatively impacted 2024 sales and EBITDA by $60 million and $20 million in the company’s original 2024 guidance.”

TD Cowen estimated that, “in a worst-case scenario where the retail business goes to zero,” the frozen waffle recall would lower TreeHouse’s earnings per share by 4% in 2024 and 6% in 2025, and reduce sales by $70 million annually.

"Private label frozen waffle retail sales in the last 52 weeks ending Oct. 5 were $170 million,” Moskow said in the note. “We assume that TreeHouse manufactures half of the private label frozen waffles. As a result, our worst-case scenario would impact shipments by $70 million on an annual basis, or 2% of sales. We assume 18% profit contribution, which translates to $13 million in EBIT or 18¢ in EPS.”

Treehouse's stock price has declined 8.9% following the recall, opening at $42.33 per common share on Oct. 18, the date of the initial recall announcement, and closing at $38.48 on Oct. 22, the date of the expanded recall announcement.