You’re at Stop and Shop, maybe grabbing stuff for a cookout or just trying to get through lunch without cooking. You see a container of pre-made potato salad in the cold case. Looks fine. Label says potato salad. You toss it in your cart and move on with your life.
But here’s the thing. If you had picked up that container and actually compared the label on the top lid to the label on the side of the container, you might have noticed something strange. Two completely different product names. And that mismatch is exactly the kind of thing that prompted a recall affecting five states this summer.
What Happened With the Hans Kissle Recall
Hans Kissle, a deli salad company based in Haverhill, Massachusetts, issued a voluntary recall for its Red Bliss Potato Salad. The problem? The containers didn’t actually contain potato salad. They were filled with Tri Color Twist Pasta Salad. The pasta salad contains wheat, which was not declared anywhere on the top lid label. The top lid said “Hans Kissle Red Bliss Potato Salad.” The clear container body said “Hans Kissle Tri Color Twist Pasta Salad.” Two labels. Two different products. One container.
The recall was first announced on August 4, 2025, covering 66 units. It was later expanded on August 29, 2025, to cover 120 units total, adding a second Use By date of 9/25/25 alongside the original 8/20/25 date. Every affected container was a 16-ounce clear plastic tub with a white lid, carrying UPC code 036217673706.
Where It Was Sold
The mislabeled containers were distributed to Stop and Shop retail locations in five states: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. If you shop at Stop and Shop in any of those states and bought what you thought was Red Bliss Potato Salad in the past few weeks, this applies to you.
The FDA warned that these containers could still be sitting in consumers’ refrigerators. The expanded Use By date of 9/25/25 means some of these products could technically still look “good” to anyone who hasn’t heard about the recall.
Why a Label Mismatch Is the Red Flag You Should Always Look For
Most people grab a deli container, glance at the top lid, and that’s it. The top is what faces you in the display case. It’s what you read first. It’s also, apparently, the label that can be completely wrong.
In this case, 120 containers of pasta salad went out with potato salad lids stuck on top. The front of the clear container correctly identified the product as pasta salad. But who flips a tub around and reads the side label at the grocery store? Almost nobody. That’s the problem.
The single clearest warning sign when buying pre-made potato salad, according to food safety reporting on this recall, is this: if the top lid label and the side or front label show different product names, do not buy it. Do not eat it. Put it back, or better yet, let a store employee know.
The FDA Gave This a Class II Rating
On September 3, 2025, the FDA assigned this recall a Class II risk level. That’s the second most serious classification the FDA uses. Class I is reserved for situations where there is a reasonable probability that eating the product will cause serious consequences. Class II means there’s a remote probability of consequences, but the risk is still real enough to warrant a formal classification.
Wheat is one of the nine major allergens recognized by the FDA. For someone with a wheat allergy or celiac disease, eating pasta that they thought was potato salad is not a minor inconvenience. It can cause serious reactions. And because the top label didn’t mention wheat at all, there was no way for someone reading only that label to know the product contained it.
What You Should Do if You Have One of These Containers
Go check your fridge. Seriously. If you have a 16-ounce clear container with a white lid from Hans Kissle, look at the UPC code. If it reads 036217673706 and the Use By date is either 8/20/25 or 9/25/25, you have a recalled product.
Now compare the labels. Does the top lid say Red Bliss Potato Salad while the container body says Tri Color Twist Pasta Salad? If so, don’t eat it. Return it to the Stop and Shop where you bought it for a full refund. If you have questions, Hans Kissle’s customer service number is 978-556-4500.
As of the last update, no illnesses or adverse reactions had been reported in connection with this recall. That’s good news. But the expanded recall (from 66 to 120 units) suggests the scope of the problem was bigger than initially thought.
Why Deli Labels Deserve More Skepticism Than You Think
Here’s something a lot of people don’t realize. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) requires packaged foods to clearly list allergens. But foods prepared in delis, bakeries, restaurants, and grocery store prepared food sections don’t always have to follow the same rules. That means deli-prepared potato salads at your local grocery store may not be required to list allergens at all, depending on how they’re categorized.
Even when labels are present, manufacturers can change ingredients without notice. A product you bought last month might have a different recipe today. The Allergy and Asthma Network recommends reading labels three separate times: once at the store before you buy, once when you put it in the fridge, and once again before you serve it. That sounds like overkill until you realize it could have caught this exact kind of mislabeling.
The Quick Visual Check That Takes Five Seconds
Before you put any pre-made potato salad in your cart, do this: pick up the container and look at every label on it. The top. The side. The back, if there is one. Do the product names match? Do the ingredient lists make sense for what the product claims to be? If something says potato salad but the ingredients list enriched wheat flour or semolina pasta, you’re looking at a mislabeled product.
This is especially important with clear plastic containers that have separate lid labels and body labels. Those two labels are often applied at different stages of production. If someone slaps the wrong lid on, you end up with exactly this situation: a product that looks like one thing from the top and something entirely different from the side.
Other Things to Watch for When Buying Pre-Made Potato Salad
While the label mismatch is the specific trigger for this recall, it’s not the only thing worth paying attention to at the store. When you’re looking at pre-made potato salad in a refrigerated display, check that the container is properly sealed. The lid should be tight with no gaps, no bulging, and no signs that it’s been opened or tampered with. Persistent condensation inside the lid can indicate temperature issues or gas buildup, neither of which is a good sign.
Also, make sure a Use By date is clearly visible. If there’s no date on the container, skip it. You have no way of knowing how old it is.
And look at the display itself. Is the potato salad sitting in a properly cold refrigerated case? Or is it on some lukewarm end cap near the deli counter? Pre-made potato salad needs to stay below 40°F. If the display area looks questionable, the product probably is too.
What to Do Once You Get It Home
Once you have a container of pre-made potato salad at home, store it on a middle shelf in your fridge, not in the door. Temperature fluctuations happen every time you open the fridge door, and the door shelves are the warmest spot. Keep the lid on tight.
Store-bought potato salad is generally good for about 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator, but treat that as a guideline, not a guarantee. If it looks slimy, smells sour, has visible mold, or has a watery layer pooled on top, throw it out. No amount of “it was only four days” reasoning is going to help you if the product went bad early.
The Takeaway
This recall is a perfect example of something that is both incredibly simple and incredibly easy to miss. Two labels on one container. Different product names. Nobody catches it because we all just read the top and move on.
If you shop at Stop and Shop in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, or New York, check your fridge for the specific UPC (036217673706) and Use By dates (8/20/25 or 9/25/25). Return affected containers for a full refund. And from now on, take five seconds to compare every label on a pre-made potato salad container before you buy it. That small habit is worth building.
