Contamination Causes 400 Gallons of 'Hot Ones' Sauce To Be Recalled

Hot sauce aficionados need to be on alert after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shared information about a hot sauce recall.

The Karam Sauce Company LLC said it would be recalling hundreds of gallons of their Hot Ones-branded hot sauce after discovered that some batches of the sauce may include foreign materials. The sauces were sold across multiple states, and include a variety of flavors and sizes.

You can learn more about the Hot Ones recall below, including what the FDA is telling customers who have purchased this sauce to do with the rest of their unused products, and how you can get a refund.

According to the FDA, The Karma Sauce Company LLC has issued a voluntary recall of its Hot Ones brand Los Calientes Hot Sauces. These sauces were made by Heatonist, and the company has announced that they will be pulling them over "possible foreign object contamination," which appears to include plastic.

This recall is for the Verde Los Calientes Hot Sauce in 5-gallon, 1-gallon, and 5-ounce sizes. These products have a UPC of 8-51444-00803-5.

It also includes the Rojo Los Calientes Hot Sauce in 1-gallon and 5-ounce sizes. These products have a UPC of 8-51444-00810-03. According to the FDA announcement, these sauces were sold in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina.

The recall was initially made on Feb. 14, 2025. The FDA updated the announcement on March 19, 2025, when the organization gave the recall a Class II ranking.

This is the designation given to products that have the potential to cause short term or reversable adverse health effects.

You can get a full listing of the hot sauces, including their best by dates, by visiting the FDA's website.

According to All Recipes, this recall is most likely to impact customers who purchased the 5-ounce bottles of the sauce, since the gallon sized options would be more suited for a commercial or retail setting. As such, they are telling anyone who may have these sauces at home to discontinue using them immediately, and either toss them in the trash, or reach out to the place where you purchased them for a refund.

Shoppers who purchased the sauce directly from Heatonist are being asked to contact them directly by emailing Ilovehotsauce@heatonist.com. They will be able to answer any additional questions you may have, as well as tell you how to get a refund.

While this recall has been updated since its initial announcement, it doesn't seem like there have been any injuries or illnesses reported as a result of this incident.

Hopefully that continues to be true as the company and the FDA work to ensure that all of the products included in the recall are removed from consumer and retail shelves.