The FDA says toddlers choked on Once Upon a Farm Tractor Wheels bars and wants every lot thrown away

The Food and Drug Administration told parents on Oct. 30, 2026 to stop buying or serving Once Upon a Farm Tractor Wheels organic toddler soft-baked bars. The agency says it has received several reports of children aged 1.5 to 2.5 years suffering complete airway obstruction after eating them, and it calls the bars a potentially fatal choking hazard. Every lot is covered, whatever code or expiration date is printed on the package.

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A dry, sticky mass and the limits of first aid

According to the agency’s description of the incidents, the bar forms a dry, sticky mass when a toddler chews it. That mass can lodge in the airway and resist the standard rescue steps, since back blows and abdominal thrusts, including the Heimlich maneuver, may fail to dislodge it. Some of the children needed an emergency response and some were kept in hospital for observation afterward. FDA did not say how many toddlers were affected, using only the word several, and it did not describe how any single case ended.

In its advisory, FDA describes the reported cases as complete airway obstruction with the inability to breathe, among children between roughly 18 and 30 months old. The agency also says the mass can resist even standard first aid, so a caregiver who responds exactly as trained may still be unable to clear the airway. The advisory carries no photographs of the injuries and no clinical detail beyond that description.

Every flavor, every lot code, every retailer

The scope is deliberately total. FDA says the warning applies to all flavors, quantities and varieties of Tractor Wheels, including all lot codes and expiration dates, so there is no safe batch to hunt for in a pantry. The photographs on the advisory show the Strawberry, Pumpkin & Beet five-bar box, but the brand’s own online shop also lists Banana, Pumpkin & Cauliflower and Apple, Sweet Potato & Spinach bars, which fall under the all-flavors wording. The advisory lists no UPC numbers, so matching a bar to the notice comes down to the product name and the wheel shape.

The bars were sold nationwide, in stores and online. FDA names Costco, Target and Walmart, and adds that they may also have been sold through Amazon.com and other third-party vendors, which matters for households that bought a multipack months ago and tucked it away. Retailers are told not to sell the product at all, and the agency says consumers who bought it anywhere, including from a seller it did not name, should follow the same throw-away advice.

The brand’s website recommends Tractor Wheels for children 12 months and older. It describes each 0.67-ounce bar as soft, dense and chewy, and suggests toddlers have back teeth before eating one. The same listing prices a 30-count variety pack at $36.99 and says the bars are individually wrapped and shelf-stable, so a household may hold loose bars with no box left to check. The page also links to a voluntary recall notice, though the text on the page does not spell out what that notice says. The reported ages of 1.5 to 2.5 years sit squarely above the 12-month floor the brand recommends, so the reports do not describe children who were too young for the bar by the company’s own guidance.

A recall the company has agreed to start

FDA says it informed Once Upon a Farm of the adverse event reports and that the company has agreed to start a recall. The wording matters: the agency announced an agreement to begin, not a completed recall, and the advisory gives no product quantities, no recall start date and no company statement. The agency says it will update the advisory as more information becomes available.

The brand sells organic food for babies and toddlers, and trade outlet Food Manufacturing describes Tractor Wheels as its best-selling product, the shape that a newer bar called Smart Wheels borrows. FDA’s advisory names only Tractor Wheels, and the trade report gives no sign that the newer bars are involved.

For households, the instructions are plain. Throw the bars away immediately, do not serve them, and contact a health care provider if a child shows symptoms. If a child is choking and first aid does not clear the obstruction, call 9-1-1. Complaints and adverse events can be reported through FDA’s consumer assistance page or by calling 1-888-INFO-FDA, and updates will appear in the agency’s alerts and advisories index and its recalls and safety alerts listing.

What remains unknown is the size of the problem. FDA has not published an exact number of incidents, the number of units sold, the reason the bar reportedly turns into a dry, sticky mass in a toddler’s mouth, or the date the recall will formally begin. Until the agency updates its advisory, the only quantified fact in the notice is the age range of 1.5 to 2.5 years.

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

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