FDA Advisory Triggers Recall of 25,000 Bags of Brad's Kale Chips

Snack Right Super Foods Inc., doing business as Brad's Raw Chips, is recalling approximately 25,000 bags of kale chips and veggie chips because they may contain thallium, a toxic heavy metal that the dehydration process itself concentrates rather than introduces. The products moved nationwide between October 2025 and December 2025 through KeHE Distributors and United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), plus direct sales to five individual consumers.

The recall covers four Brad's Plant Based products in bags: Crunchy Kale in Original, Cheeze It Up and Radical Ranch varieties at 2 oz (57g), and Veggie Chips Kale at 3 oz (85g). Best By dates run from December 21, 2026 to February 17, 2027.

What drove the recall?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised the firm of thallium in tested products, and the company then initiated the recall. The finding traces back to May 2026, when the California Department of Public Health advised consumers not to eat certain Brad's Plant Based products after investigating an inquiry from one individual with elevated thallium levels.

That department collected samples at retail stores in the Sacramento area. Laboratory testing found elevated thallium levels across multiple varieties.

How did the metal get into the product?

Thallium occurs naturally in soil and in sulfur-based minerals, and plants take it up from the ground. The risk is not uniform across crops. Vegetables in the Brassicaceous family — kale, cabbage and radish — are particularly prone to accumulating it. Brassica crops such as kale are known to accumulate certain elements from soil.

The manufacturing process did not introduce the contaminant, according to the recall notice. The economics of the format matter here: dehydration removes approximately 85 to 90 percent of the product's water. That step concentrates elements already present in the fresh kale, so trace soil uptake becomes a materially larger dose per bag. No level of processing remediation is named in the notice, and none is ruled out for future production either.

What are the health effects?

Acute or chronic exposure to thallium can result in serious adverse health effects, the notice states. The cited outcomes include:

• Gastroenteritis
• Damage to peripheral nerves
• Alopecia, or hair loss

Which lots are affected?

Consumers can match packages against these identifiers:

• Brad's Crunchy Kale, Original, 2 oz, UPC 813104021679 — Lots 33525-1, 33525-2, 33525-3 (Best By February 1, 2027); Lot 34525-1 (Best By February 11, 2027); Lot 35125-2 (Best By February 17, 2027)
• Brad's Crunchy Kale, Cheeze It Up, 2 oz, UPC 813104021877 — Lot 35025-3 (Best By February 16, 2027)
• Brad's Crunchy Kale, Radical Ranch, 2 oz, UPC 813104020726 — Lot 29425-1 (Best By December 21, 2026)
• Brad's Veggie Chips Kale, 3 oz, UPC 854615002054 — Lots 33225-3 (Best By January 28, 2027), 33325-2 (Best By January 29, 2027), 33425-1 (Best By January 30, 2027), 33525-1 (Best By February 1, 2027)

What should consumers and retailers do?

Consumers who purchased any listed product should stop consuming it immediately and discard it. The terms are unusually firm on the commercial side: refunds are not being offered, and the product should not be returned to the place of purchase. That stance shifts the full write-off cost onto buyers and, implicitly, onto the distributors who placed roughly 25,000 bags into commerce over a three-month window.

The notice does not say whether Brad's Plant Based has changed its kale sourcing or added incoming testing for heavy metals. Both moves would be the standard operator response to a soil-uptake contaminant in a concentrated-format snack, and their absence from the recall language leaves the supply chain question open.