Mezzetta, the food brand famous for selling olives, pickled peppers, and other pickled vegetables, has issued a recall for some of its jarred peperoncinis. The reason? TikTok videos have gone viral showing what appears to be a dead mouse in one woman’s jar of the peppers.
“Public service announcement, don’t buy this brand of peperoncinis, I have a dead mouse in mine,” the woman, only identified as Tiffany, says to camera in a video from Sept. 16.
@reizargt @Mezzetta | Real Ingredients
In another video from the same day, the woman says, “I’m here with the pot roast I wanted to make Mississippi-style, but there’s a dead baby mouse. There’s a dead baby mouse in my peperoncinis,” explaining in disgust that she “found out after I already licked my fingers.”
Someone can be heard off-camera talking about looking for a batch number, presumably to file a complaint with the company.
@reizargt @Mezzetta | Real Ingredients wtf happeneed??? we loved you guys I LICKED THE BRINE
In still another video, the woman says that she was forced to throw away $50 worth of groceries for the dinner she was making. It’s unclear where in the U.S. the woman is located, but Mezzetta is distributed nationally to major retailers like Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Kroger, among others.
Mezzetta issued a recall notice on Saturday in conjunction with the FDA for a specific lot of peppers. According to the company, the recall only applies to:
- Mezzetta GOLDEN GREEK PEPERONCINI MEDIUM HEAT, 32 oz.
- SKU: 10106328
- Lot: 720106
The company explains in its recall notice that it has identified customers who received product from the recalled lot and is “working directly with them to isolate and remove the affected product from sale.” The company says it has contacted the woman in the video and there have been no reports of illness or injury.
If you believe you have a jar of peppers from lot 720106, the company is asking that you don’t consume them (obviously) and wants you to contact Mezzetta at the email address [email protected].
“At this time, the recall is limited to one product from a single production lot,” a spokesperson for the company told Gizmodo via email. “Mezzetta has asked its retail partners to remove the affected product from their shelves and notified the FDA. Mezzetta is coordinating with the agency regarding the recall.”
The company said it continues to conduct a thorough investigation into the issue and “will take appropriate action based on what that investigation establishes.”
The U.S. has seen an uptick in recalls and foreign materials in food products since President Donald Trump returned to office. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) saw a 40% jump in complaints about meat, egg, and poultry products in 2025, with the most common complaint being foreign objects in the food. The numbers for 2026 haven’t been released yet.
It was also a brutal summer for recalls, with a major outbreak of cyclosporiasis traced to lettuce that saw nearly 20,000 lab-confirmed illnesses, over a thousand hospitalizations, and two deaths. There was also a recall of jalapeños in 27 states and a Class 1 recall of 19 million eggs over concerns about salmonella. Class 1 recalls are defined by the FDA as a “situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”
