On Wednesday, June 16, UNFI, a major distributor in the natural foods market, halted the sale of unpasteurized Kombucha products, and recommended retailers also halt sales of those items. This is not related to any type of food contamination, is not a government mandated recall, and had nothing to do with Lindsay Lohan.  Details as of July 26 are as follows:

Why did UNFI halt the sale of unpasteurized Kombucha products?

UNFI was made aware that unpasteurized Kombucha products may not meet federal regulations governing the sale and labeling of products containing alcohol. When suppliers were asked to prove compliance with the regulations in question, they were unable to immediately do so. In fact, certain tests conducted showed many unpasteurized Kombucha products to contain in excess of 0.5% alcohol content by volume, the threshold above which products must include on their label the federal warning regarding the possible effects of alcohol.

The concerns are basically:

• Items with alcohol content above this 0.5% threshold may pose a danger to some consumers.
• Knowingly selling such items that do not meet labeling requirements is illegal.
• Retailers that sell items containing alcohol over this threshold are required to hold specific type(s) of retailing permits/licenses/bonding. Many of the retailers who purchase from UNFI and who do not have such permits face potential legal exposure. As well, many retailers who purchase product which should have the labels but don’t and are above the threshold could lose any permits/licenses they may have. Finally, having reasonable knowledge of selling such products in violation of the law, exposes organizations to certain liability.

There is presently no government-mandated recall of the items in question. UNFI, when provided the knowledge noted above, made the decision that the right thing to do to protect its retailers, consumers, and itself, was to halt the sale of these items.

What is the latest information on the brands affected?

• Celestial Seasonings: Items have been withdrawn from the market by Celestial, and will be reformulated as rapidly as possible to assure compliance with labeling requirements. Currently, there is no ETA for reformulated product.
• GT’s / Millennium: New production, 100% compliant product to be released to distribution in July.
  7/15 update: GT’s has provided no additional information to date to UNFI. At this point, we have no specific reintroduction information from GT’s. 7/26 update: GT’s has no ETA for reformulated product to be produced or distributed.
• Katalyst: Completing third party testing on product presently in the marketplace, with no estimated date of final disposition.
  7/15 update: Company expects to have reformulated product available for sale in early August. 
• High Country: Company has reformulated, and is working to ship UNFI new product. 7/15 update: Some reformulated production runs have been completed, and initial test results are encouraging. Best estimate ETA is week of 7/26 into UNFI warehouses, and available for sale.
  7/26 Update: Company has reformulated, and is working to ship UNFI new product. UNFI East expects Aloe, Ginger, and Original sku’s to be in stock on or around 8/12, with the balance of flavors available approximately 8/19. UNFI West has orders pending for all DC’s presently, no specific ETA’s available.
• Honest Tea: Product withdrawal from market. Reformulation taking place.
  7/15 update: no ETA on reformulated product at this time.
• Kombucha Botanica: Working on reformulation of product. September 1, 2010 ETA for reformulated product.
• Pronatura: The ready to drink shelf stable kombucha item is not pasteurized, and does not meet labeling requirements. 
  7/15 update: Supplier has provided no planned course of action to return product to distribution.
• Vibranz: Items have been reformulated by Vibranz.
  7/15 update: New production runs have been completed, testing is encouraging. ETA for reformulated product is week of 7/26 into UNFI DC’s.  
  7/26 Update: UNFI has received spotty deliveries of reformulated product. We’re working with the supplier to secure adequate inventories, but product will remain as limited availability for the immediate future.