The Food and Drug Administration's recall page added Kroger Homestyle Cheese Garlic Croutons across 16 states on Saturday, downstream from California Dairies' contaminated milk-powder recall. Consumer-product recalls posted in the same 36 hours include Bethlehem Lights LED illuminated ribbon spheres (nine reports of sparking and overheating, no injuries), Orb Funkee squeeze toys for tremolite asbestos in the sand filling (121,340 units sold at Walmart and Ollie's between February 2025 and April 2026), the React Health VOCSN V+Pro ventilator, and a Bolton Medical Relay Pro thoracic stent graft. [1][2][3]

The paper's Friday brief took the position that the FDA recall page is the household's instrument; the Saturday update is what the instrument printed. The Kroger croutons entry extends the chain that began with the California Dairies powdered-milk recall on May 21 — at least nine downstream companies have now pulled product. No illness has been reported in the crouton entry; Salmonella was identified in the upstream powder. The asbestos-in-children's-toys entry is the holiday-weekend item that compounds: Walmart and Ollie's sold 121,340 of the squeeze toys, the sand filling contains tremolite asbestos, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission classifies any asbestos exposure as a no-safe-dose hazard. Consumers should stop use immediately and return for refund. [2][3]

The plain-English version: in the 36 hours before American families load coolers, fire grills, and hand small squeeze toys to small children, five separate things on shelves have been recalled. Two are kitchen items, two are kids' items, one is a hospital ventilator that families with home-care patients should check by serial number. The page that lists them is fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts. The instruction is the same as last Friday: if you bought one of these, take it back or throw it out. [1][2]

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago