If you’ve got a stash of Spring & Mulberry chocolate bars sitting in your pantry, stop what you’re doing and go check the packaging. The Raleigh, North Carolina-based artisan chocolate company just expanded its voluntary recall to include every single flavor in its product lineup. All 12 of them. The reason? A batch of dates used to sweeten the bars may be contaminated with salmonella.
This isn’t a small, quiet recall affecting one flavor at one store. This is the whole enchilada. Every chocolate bar Spring & Mulberry makes is now on the list, and the affected products have been on shelves and available online since August 2025. That’s roughly nine months of product sitting in kitchens across the country right now.
What Happened and Why the Recall Keeps Growing
The expanded recall was announced on May 8, 2026, after Spring & Mulberry and its manufacturing partners completed a root cause investigation alongside the FDA. What they found was that a single lot of dates, the ingredient the company uses instead of refined sugar to sweeten all of its bars, was the most likely source of salmonella contamination.
Because that one lot of dates touched the production of bars across the entire flavor range, the company had no choice but to pull everything. It’s worth understanding how the recall unfolded in stages. It started in January 2026 with just one flavor, the Mint Leaf Date-Sweetened Chocolate bar. Days later, seven more flavors were added. And now, as of May 8, all 12 flavors are included. The investigation kept revealing more exposure, so the recall kept expanding.
Every Flavor on the Recall List
Let’s be clear about what’s affected. If you own any Spring & Mulberry chocolate bar, assume it could be part of this recall. Here’s the full list of recalled flavors:
Blood Orange, Coffee, Earl Grey, Lavender Rose, Mango Chili, Mint Leaf, Mixed Berry, Mulberry Fennel, Pecan Date, Pure Dark, Pure Dark Mini, and Sea Salt.
That’s the company’s entire product portfolio. Every bar. Every flavor. The four newest additions to the recall (Blood Orange, Coffee, Pure Dark, and Sea Salt) were not included in the January recall waves but are now part of the expanded May announcement.
How to Check If Your Bars Are Affected
The lot code is the key piece of information here. You’ll find it printed on the back of the packaging and also on the inner flow wrap. If you bought Spring & Mulberry bars anytime since August 2025 through online retailers or select brick-and-mortar stores, you should check those codes against the recall notice.
For some specific examples, the recalled Mixed Berry bars carry UPC 850055470026 with batch numbers including 025220, 025223, 025247, 025248, 025251, 025253, 025288, 025296, 025335, and 026008. The Mulberry Fennel bars (UPC 850055470149) include batches 025230 and 025287. Pecan Date bars (UPC 850055470040) include batches 025233, 025237, 025238, 025239, 025240, 025241, 025290, 025294, 025329, and 025330.
Those are just three flavors. Specific batch codes for all 12 flavors are listed in the full FDA recall notice. If you’re not sure, the safest move is to assume your bars are affected and follow the refund process.
What You Should Do Right Now
The instructions from the company and the FDA are straightforward. Do not eat any of the recalled bars. Here’s the step-by-step process:
First, take a photo of the product packaging that clearly shows the batch code. Then email that photo to recalls@springandmulberry.com. That email is your ticket to a refund. Once you’ve documented the batch code and sent the photo, throw the chocolate bar away. Don’t save it, don’t give it away, don’t convince yourself it’s probably fine. Just toss it.
If you have questions, Spring & Mulberry’s customer service team is available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time, and you can reach them at that same email address.
No Reported Illnesses So Far
Here’s some good news within the bad news. As of May 11, 2026, there have been zero confirmed illnesses connected to these chocolate bars. On top of that, all of the finished products included in the expanded recall tested negative for salmonella.
So why recall them at all? Because the investigation traced the risk to that specific lot of dates, and any product made with those dates could theoretically carry contamination, even if individual bar tests came back clean. Salmonella can be tricky. It doesn’t always show up consistently across every product in a batch, and contaminated food can look and smell completely normal. The FDA has made that point repeatedly in its communications about this recall.
What Is Spring and Mulberry, Anyway?
If you haven’t heard of this brand, you’re not alone. Spring & Mulberry isn’t sitting on the shelf at your average gas station. It’s an artisan chocolate company that uses dates instead of refined sugar to sweeten its bars. The bars are dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and mostly vegan (the Lavender Rose flavor contains bee pollen, so it doesn’t make the vegan cut). They use direct-trade, single-origin West African cacao and market their products as keto, paleo, and Whole30-compliant.
The Pure Dark bar, for instance, is made from just three organic ingredients: cacao beans, cacao butter, and dates. The company sells its bars online in multi-packs (3-packs, 6-packs, and 12-packs) and ships them with ice packs and insulation during warmer months. Their best sellers include the Mixed Berry, Pecan Date, and Mulberry Fennel flavors.
This is a small, specialty brand with a loyal following, not a mass-market candy bar. But because the bars have been sold online and through retail partners nationwide since August 2025, the recall’s reach is much wider than you might expect from a company this size.
Where Were These Bars Sold?
Spring & Mulberry bars were available through the company’s own website and through select retail partners across the country. They were also sold on online platforms. The FDA notes that the products have been available for purchase nationwide since August 2025, which means there’s a nine-month window of product out in the wild.
Think about that for a second. If you bought a few bars online back in September or October, they might still be tucked in a drawer somewhere. If someone gave you a pack as a holiday gift, those bars could still be in your kitchen. This is one of those recalls where the affected product has been circulating long enough that people might have honestly forgotten they bought it.
Why the Date Ingredient Matters
The root cause of this whole situation comes down to one ingredient: dates. Spring & Mulberry’s entire brand identity is built around using dates as a sweetener instead of sugar. It’s what makes their bars different from every other chocolate bar on the market. But it also means that when one lot of dates is compromised, it doesn’t just affect one product. It affects everything.
The company’s investigation, done alongside food safety experts and the FDA, zeroed in on a single lot of date ingredient as the most likely source of contamination. Because that lot was used across the production of multiple flavors and batches, the domino effect was massive. One bad batch of dates took down 12 product lines.
Salmonella Symptoms to Watch For
If you already ate one of these bars before hearing about the recall, don’t panic, but do pay attention to how you’re feeling. Salmonella symptoms typically show up between 12 and 72 hours after eating contaminated food. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover on their own.
Common symptoms include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain. In rare cases, the infection can become more serious if it spreads beyond the digestive system. Young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk for severe illness. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms and recently ate a Spring & Mulberry bar, contact your healthcare provider.
The Bottom Line: Check Your Pantry
This recall is voluntary, but that doesn’t mean you should shrug it off. Voluntary just means the company initiated it rather than being forced to by the government. The risk is real enough that the FDA is involved and the company pulled its entire product line.
If you’ve purchased any Spring & Mulberry chocolate bars since August 2025, go check the packaging. Look at the lot code on the back. Compare it to the recall list. Take a photo. Email it to recalls@springandmulberry.com. Get your refund. And throw the bar away.
It’s a bummer, especially if you’re a fan of this brand. But a few dollars back in your pocket and an empty spot in the pantry beats the alternative. This one’s not worth the risk.
