12/18/24
Dear Walt Churchill’s customer:
We have an update on our food safety alert. Based on input from outside food safety experts we retained, it
appears very likely that the inedible product used to decorate a small number of our baked goods are water
beads.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the National Capital Poison Center, ingesting water beads poses a health risk, particularly for intestinal blockages as the beads expand in water. The CPSC also has cited new evidence that some water beads may contain the chemical acrylamide, a known carcinogen. The Poison Control Center notes that “since acrylamide is also found in many foods and products in our environment, it remains unclear whether the amount of acrylamide found in some water beads poses a health risk when the beads are swallowed. What is clear is that the risk of intestinal obstruction from swallowing water beads far outweighs any possible risk of toxicity from acrylamide.” More information from the Poison Control Center can be found here. The full CPSC advisory on water beads can be found here.
We are sharing this information with the local poison control centers as well as the Wood County and Lucas County Health Departments.
As we shared in our initial alert, we remain unaware of anyone experiencing problems from ingesting the baked goods but anyone with concerns should contact the Poison Help line (1-800-222-1222), which connects you to your local poison center, and your family physician.
As we previously communicated, a small number of these baked goods with the beads were made available for sale on Sunday, Dec. 15 and Monday, Dec. 16. Here is a detailed description of the baked goods involved and where they were sold:
• Chocolate Chip Double Decker Slice cookies, decorated with red, green and white beads, at the Perrysburg location only.
• Angel Food Cake, with the red, green and white beads mixed into the cake, at the Perrysburg location only.
• Yeast-raised donuts with white icing, yeast-raised donuts with chocolate icing, vanilla cake donuts with white icing and chocolate cake donuts with chocolate icing, all decorated with red, green and white beads, at the Perrysburg and Maumee locations.
We have been contacting directly any customer we have been able to determine purchased any of the goods in question. If you purchased any of these baked goods, please destroy them or bring them back to one of our stores. You will be given a full refund.
We want to re-emphasize that we are very sorry this occurred. Food safety must be our top priority, and we will take all necessary steps to guard against anything like this happening again.
Sincerely,
Kunal Dawar, President/CEO
Walt Churchill’s Market
A small number of our baked goods made available for sale on Sunday, Dec. 15 & Monday, Dec. 16, may have contained an inedible product that should not be consumed. The red, green and white products were used to decorate the baked goods.
Immediately upon learning of this mistake on Monday, Dec. 16, we removed and destroyed all the suspect baked goods. We also alerted the Wood County and Lucas County Health Departments. Here are the specific baked goods:
If you purchased any of these baked goods, please destroy them or bring them back to one of our stores. You will be given a full refund.
Thus far, we are not aware of anyone experiencing problems, but if you have ingested any of these
objects, the health department advises contacting the Poison Help line (1-800-222-1222), which connects you to your local poison center, and your family physician.
While we believe a very limited amount of these goods were sold, we are very sorry this occurred and we want to do everything possible to protect people’s safety, so we are reaching out widely to our customers.
We are also contacting directly any customer we have been able to determine purchased any of the goods in question.
Again, we are sorry this happened. Food safety is our number one priority. We are investigating how this happened and will be taking steps going forward to guard against it happening again.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to contactus@churchills.market.
Your email will be seen by store and company leadership.
Sincerely,
Kunal Dawar, President/CEO
Walt Churchill’s Market
