Saint Francis Apizza recalls four frozen pizzas over soy missing from the label

Pepperoni, Plain Cheese, Supreme, and Mushroom and Onion are the four varieties of Saint Francis brand frozen pizza that Saint Francis Apizza LLC pulled on Oct. 1, 2026, after the company found that soy ingredients never made it onto the labels. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted the notice on Oct. 3.

The ingredients missing from the labels are soybean oil and soy lecithin, which the recall notice describes as sub-ingredients of the pizzas, the two soy components the company’s announcement names. For most shoppers that omission means nothing. For a person with a soy allergy it removes the one piece of information the label exists to give, and the company’s own statement says as much: people with “an allergy or severe sensitivity to soy run the risk of a serious or lifethreatening allergic reaction” if they eat the pizzas.

The four varieties and where they sold

Counting the two ETC Produce and Provisions stores separately, the announcement names eleven physical retail locations across Ohio and Kentucky, with six of them inside Cincinnati city limits, plus the one online seller. The company announced the recall on Oct. 1 and the FDA listing followed on Oct. 3, so the public notice trails the company’s own decision by two days.

The recall covers four frozen pizzas: Pepperoni, Plain Cheese, Supreme, and Mushroom and Onion. The company’s announcement as published by the FDA classes the problem as misbranding, the regulatory term for a product whose label omits something it must state. The notice gives no UPC, lot number or best-by date, so the product name and the store where it was bought are the only identifiers available, which puts the burden on a shopper to remember what the freezer holds and where it came from.

The announcement lists ETC Produce and Provisions at two Cincinnati locations, Daylily Deli, Boards and Beez, Madison’s at Findlay Market and Urban Stead Cheese, all in the city. Outside Cincinnati it names Harvest Market in Milford, Ohio; The Farm on Central in Carlisle, Ohio; Tony and Pete’s in Dayton; Taste Cellar and Pantry in Fort Thomas, Kentucky; and Golden Gelato in Covington, Kentucky. The last entry is online: the Cincy Favorites shop, which sells the brand directly and carries a Saint Francis Apizza collection.

Soybean oil and soy lecithin on a pizza label

Soybeans are one of nine major food allergens the FDA recognizes, alongside milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and sesame. The agency’s food allergy overview and its consumer guidance explain that a packaged food must name the source of a major allergen at least once, either in parentheses after the ingredient, as in “lecithin (soy),” or in a “contains” statement after the ingredient list. A pizza that uses soybean oil in the dough or soy lecithin as an emulsifier has to say so in one of those two ways.

That rule matters here because both ingredients are the sort a shopper would not guess from the pizza’s name. Food Allergy Research & Education’s soy allergy page notes that soy turns up in processed foods, dairy products and canned goods, which is why label reading is the working defense. It also says highly refined soy oil and soy lecithin are tolerated by most soy-allergic people, while cold-pressed, expelled or extruded soy oils keep their soy proteins and should be avoided. The recall notice does not say which form of either ingredient went into the pizzas, so a person with a soy allergy has no way to tell from the label or the notice whether the amounts involved are tolerable.

The FDA listing and the gaps in its record

The FDA’s recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts page lists the action with a posting date of Oct. 3, 2026 and the description “Undeclared soy allergen.” The company states that no illness has been reported in connection with the four products.

Several details are absent from the public record. Neither the notice nor the FDA listing states how many pizzas were affected, how long they were on shelves, or how the labeling gap was discovered. The notice also does not say whether the recipe changed or the label was printed from an out-of-date ingredient list. The FDA entry leaves those questions to the company, whose notice carries a single named contact, Alex Plattner. Nothing in the record indicates that any other Saint Francis products, or pizzas sold outside the listed Ohio and Kentucky stores, are part of the action.

The FDA lists reaction symptoms as hives, swelling, vomiting, difficulty breathing and anaphylaxis, typically within minutes to a few hours of eating. Anyone reacting should stop eating the food and seek medical attention immediately and, where emergency medication has been prescribed, consider using it, according to the agency.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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