It's time to check those toppings—the product is manufactured by "the world's largest producer of mozzarella and pizza cheese."
Famous pizza chains such as Domino’s, Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut may all be fierce competitors, but they also have something big in common: their cheese. Denver, Colorado-based Leprino Foods says it’s “the world’s largest producer of mozzarella and pizza cheese,” with The New York Times reporting this year that the Leprino cheese empire distributes 85% of all cheese used on pizzas across the nation. But millions of pounds of the company’s signature mozzarella slabs now face a recall in five states due to “possible stainless steel pieces in product.”
On October 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first announced that 5,453,442 pounds of Leprino’s mozzarella, further described as “LMPS 1.5″ BULK,” has been recalled after being distributed to the states of Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. Though the recall notice doesn’t say how the issue with the stainless steel pieces was first discovered, an update published on October 22 says that the incident is now considered a Class II risk level, indicating that consuming the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”
The affected items, reportedly sold in 11-by-14-inch slabs weighing approximately 10 pounds each, were distributed in corrugated tote boxes. According to the company’s site, Leprino Foods serves various business types across 79 countries, meaning the cheese involved in the recall may or may not have been intended for use on pizza.
The expiration dates are not listed on the wholesale packaging, but the following codes and dates may be featured:
- Product code: 100003207
- Production dates:
- 09/02/2025
- 09/03/2025
- 09/04/2025
- 09/08/2025
- 09/09/2025
- 09/11/2025
- 09/12/2025
- 09/16/2025
- 09/17/2025
- 09/18/2025
- 09/19/2025
- 09/22/2025
Under the guidance of former leader James “Jim” Leprino, who died this summer at the age of 87, the company became a giant in the industry. The previous New York Times article says the company “industrialized the production and sale of mozzarella.” In 2017, Forbes famously called him “the Willy Wonka of cheese,” a nod to his out-of-the-box approach.
Previously, The Denver Post Magazine said in 1995 that the company’s “production of mozzarella is the envy of the U.S. cheese industry. The U.S. steel industry found huge productivity gains when it developed technologies to continuously cast long, thin slabs of sheet steel from molten metal. Leprino has perfected the same process with mozzarella.”
It is not immediately clear from the recall announcement whether the products had yet reached consumers or if any injuries or illnesses have occurred as a result.
For daily wellness updates, subscribe to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:
- The Recent 9-State Recall of an Iconic Rice Brand Was Just Evaluated for “Possible Stones”
- More Than 23,000 Bottles of a Popular Antihistamine Have Been Recalled Nationwide
- Nearly 20,000 Bottles of Popular Juice Have Been Recalled in 11 States
- The FDA Just Named Another Egg Company in This Week’s Recall, Specifying One Large State
