A Toddler Snack Sold at Costco, Target and Walmart Has Been Pulled From Shelves — And the FDA Says Even the Heimlich May Not Save a Choking Child

It is shaped like a little wheel. Soft-baked, organic, made with fruit and vegetables like sweet potato, spinach and beet, and sold by the carton at Costco, Target and Walmart, it is exactly the kind of snack a parent might hand a toddler without a second thought.

That is what makes the federal warning so chilling.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has received reports of toddlers between 18 months and two and a half years old “suffering complete airway obstruction with the inability to breathe” after eating Once Upon a Farm’s Tractor Wheels Organic Toddler Soft-Baked Bars. Some of those children needed an emergency response and were kept in the hospital for observation, the agency said.

Every flavor, every package size and every lot is now off the market. But the most unsettling part of the FDA’s warning isn’t the choking itself. It is the agency’s warning about what may happen when an adult tries to help.

The Snack Parents Trusted

Once Upon a Farm is not a fly-by-night brand. The Berkeley, California, company sells organic food for babies through big kids, trades on the New York Stock Exchange and built its name on a simple promise: real ingredients, no added sugar, nothing artificial.

Tractor Wheels were among its stars. Chief executive John Foraker told investors on Monday that the line had accounted for roughly 18% of the company’s net sales so far this year, calling the bars “top sellers, highly productive, and beloved by consumers.”

They were shipped to stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico, the company said, and sold online. The FDA says they may also have turned up on Amazon and through other third-party sellers.

When the Heimlich Isn’t Enough

The trouble, according to the FDA, begins in the mouth. “When chewed, the product reportedly forms a dry, sticky mass that standard choking interventions — including back blows and the Heimlich maneuver — may fail to dislodge,” the agency warned on Oct. 30.

The company’s own recall notice describes the same thing in more clinical language: the bar “can rapidly hydrate into a dense, dry, and sticky mass upon contact with saliva and during chewing.”

Back blows and abdominal thrusts are the moves first-aid classes teach for a choking child — the things you do with your own hands while help is on the way. The FDA’s warning says that with this snack, they may not be enough. Its advice is blunt: call 911 if someone is choking and other first aid has failed.

Three Reports, One Weekend

Foraker laid out the timeline on a Monday call with investors. The company had received a single complaint from a parent about a choking incident and was digging through the lot codes with its manufacturer when, on Thursday afternoon, the FDA got in touch.

The agency had three reports. One was the parent’s. “The other two were submitted directly to the FDA, neither of which we had previously received,” Foraker said. Within about 24 hours, the company pulled the entire line, saying it couldn’t tell which flavors or lots were involved and that its investigation “has not yet identified a root cause.”

The company says no injuries have been reported to date. The FDA’s account — complete airway obstruction, emergency responders, hospital observation — reads very differently, and both statements now sit side by side on the agency’s website.

“We know that parents place their trust in us every time they buy one of our products,” Once Upon a Farm said in a statement. “We fell short of that, and that is why we are taking these aggressive actions.”

The Hollywood Name Behind the Brand

The name on the carton is Once Upon a Farm. The name behind it, as SFGate and the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out in their coverage of the recall, is Jennifer Garner — the actress is one of the company’s co-founders.

Garner is more than a famous face on the brand. An SEC filing shows she could be deemed the beneficial owner of about 3.06 million shares as of March 31, roughly 7.1% of the company.

Wall Street’s verdict was swift. Shares sank 38% to $9.35 by late Monday morning, MarketWatch reported, leaving the stock down 55% for the year. Foraker said it is “still too early” to estimate what the recall will cost, and that the company is reformulating the bars before they return to shelves.

Is Your Pantry Affected? What to Check

The recall covers all Tractor Wheels bars — every flavor, lot code and package size, including expired product that may still be sitting in a cupboard. Best-by dates on unexpired bars run from 10/30/2026 to 8/26/2027.

Recalled products (UPCs as listed in the company’s notice on the FDA website):

• Tractor Wheels – Strawberry, Pumpkin & Beet: 5-count (3.35 oz), UPC 81000351261; 10-count (6.7 oz), UPC 810003512932
• Tractor Wheels – Apple, Sweet Potato & Spinach: 5-count (3.35 oz), UPC 81000351260; 10-count (6.7 oz), UPC 810003512840
• Tractor Wheels – Banana, Pumpkin & Cauliflower: 5-count (3.35 oz), UPC 81000351262
• Variety pack, 20-count (Apple and Strawberry, 13.4 oz): UPC 810003512918
• Variety pack, 30-count (all three flavors, 20.1 oz): UPC 810003512925
• Online-only Organic Baby & Toddler Snack Sampler packs (9-count, 12-count) and Organic Ultimate Snack Sampler (15-count) that contain Tractor Wheels cartons

Where they were sold: nationwide and in Puerto Rico, in stores and online, including Costco, Target and Walmart, and possibly Amazon and other third-party sellers.

What to do:

• Don’t open the package and don’t serve the bars.
• Throw them away, or return them to the store where you bought them for a full refund.
• Questions or refunds: email care@uponafarm.com or call 1-888-983-1606 (Monday–Friday, 6 a.m.–4:30 p.m. PT; Saturday, 8–11 a.m. PT).
• If a child is choking and first aid isn’t working, call 911.

No other Once Upon a Farm products are part of the recall, the company said.

As for the bars themselves, Once Upon a Farm says it has hired a third party to assess the product, added staff to answer worried parents and plans to bring Tractor Wheels back once any changes are “implemented and validated.” It will report quarterly results on Nov. 12.

Until then, the little wheel stays parked. And the FDA’s message to families couldn’t be plainer: whatever is left in the pantry goes back to the store or into the trash — not into a toddler’s hand.