After continued reports of illness caused by mold, Chobani is now officially recalling some of its Greek yogurt cups.

Last Friday, Chobani began working with their retailers to remove contaminated products from stores.  "Swelling and bloating" caused by a common dairy mold were said to be the culprits. At the time, however, Chobani said the decision was voluntarily and not a formal recall. This began to change on Wednesday when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) got involved.

"To be extra cautious, we have moved from a voluntary withdrawal to a voluntary recall," Chobani said in a statement. "This partnership with the FDA will allow us to ensure that we're reaching as many of our consumers with notification of reported quality concerns. Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our consumers, and we are taking all of the necessary steps to uphold our very rigid quality standards."

According to Chobani, most of defective products have already be withdrawn from retailers. The Greek yogurt company said that only yogurts made in its Idaho facility labeled with the code 16-012 and whose expiration dates range from Sept. 11 to Oct. 7 are a problem. This represents five percent of Chobani's total production

On Tuesday, some Chobani eaters complained about the yogurt's quality on Twitter.

According to one Twitter user, the Chobani yogurt was "unnervingly fizzy." Another person tweeted that the Chobani yogurt seemed "really old." Meanwhile, a third tweeter reported that their Chobani was similar to "yogurt soup" and resembled the taste of "wine."

Complaints on Chobani's Facebook page range from claims of night-long stays in hospitals to diarrhea.

The company did not release the exact number of illnesses reported, but said that it was neither in the thousands range nor the hundreds range.

According to Hamid Ulukaya, Chobani CEO, the decision to announce a former recall was made by Chobani and was not forced by the FDA.

"Everybody in the company took this hard," Ulukaya said in an interview with the Associated Press. "It shook us up."

Ulukaya also said that the contamination arose because Chobani does not use preservatives, and that the problem is "totally fixed."

Various brands and container sizes of Chobani were affected by the mold:

  • Chobani 6 ounce cups
  • Chobani 16 ounce tubs
  • Chobani 32 ounce tubs
  • Chobani 3.5 ounce cups
  • Chobani Bite 3.5 ounce cups
  • Chobani Flip 5.3 ounce containers
  • Chobani Champions 3.5 ounce cups
  • Chobani Champions 2.25 ounce tubes