A supermarket’s name on the front of a salad bag does not necessarily identify the company that grew, processed or packaged what is inside. Taylor Farms makes some products carrying other companies’ labels, one reason its footprint is considerably larger than the brands listed in this guide to Taylor Farms’ known customers.
Unfortunately, there is no single code shoppers can enter to reveal who made every store-brand salad.
Some packages provide a clear answer. Others identify only the retailer or distributor.
Start with the fine print on the back
Federal labeling rules require packaged food to provide the name and place of business of its manufacturer, packer or distributor.
The words introducing that company matter.
“Manufactured by” or “packed by” usually points directly to the company responsible for making or packaging the product. A Taylor Farms company name or address in that section provides strong evidence of a connection.
“Manufactured for,” “distributed by” or “sold by” means something different. Those phrases often identify the supermarket or brand owner—not the outside company that physically made the salad.
A package reading “Distributed by Walmart Inc.,” for example, does not tell shoppers which processor filled the bag.
Do not assume the UPC reveals the manufacturer
Looking up the barcode may identify the product and the company that owns the brand. It does not necessarily reveal the factory that manufactured it.
A company prefix generally identifies the brand owner. In a private-label arrangement, that may be the supermarket rather than Taylor Farms or another supplier.
A UPC can still help shoppers match an exact product with a recall notice. It should not be treated as proof of who processed the salad.
Check the entire production code
Bagged salads generally have an ink-printed production code near the best-if-used-by date, often along the top seam or back of the package.
Social-media posts have suggested that any code beginning with “TF” proves Taylor Farms made the product. That is not a dependable universal test.
Taylor Farms has not published a decoder showing that every private-label item it produces carries the same prefix. Production codes may identify a plant, line, shift, date or customer within a company’s internal system, but their format is not standardized across the industry.
During a recall, compare the complete code—not merely its first two letters—with the official notice.
Look for a USDA establishment number on meal salads
Prepared salad bowls containing chicken, ham or other federally inspected meat may carry a USDA inspection mark with a number beginning “EST.” or “P.”
That number can be searched in the USDA’s Meat, Poultry and Egg Product Inspection Directory to identify the establishment associated with the inspected product.
This method has previously connected store-brand prepared salads with Taylor Farms facilities.
It still has limitations. The establishment number may identify the facility that assembled the finished meal without identifying the farm that grew the lettuce or the manufacturer of every ingredient.
Plain bags of lettuce generally will not carry this USDA number because fresh produce is regulated differently.
Search recalls using every identifying detail
Government recall notices frequently disclose private-label relationships that ordinary packaging does not.
Search using a combination of:
- Store brand
- Exact product name
- Package size
- UPC
- Best-if-used-by date
- Lot or production code
- USDA establishment number, when present
For the current recall, the FDA’s complete Taylor Farms recall information identifies Marketside Iceberg Salad and Marketside Shredded Lettuce sold through Walmart. It includes the affected package sizes and best-if-used-by dates.
That official confirmation is more reliable than trying to reverse-engineer a bag’s production code.
Ask the retailer while you still have the package
When the label remains unclear, contact the supermarket using the number printed on the bag. Provide the complete lot code, UPC, package size and date.
Retailers maintain supplier records for quality control and recalls, although a customer-service representative may need to escalate the question before providing an answer.
Taylor Farms also operates a consumer-care line. Photographs of the front, back and production code can make the product easier to trace.
The frustrating conclusion is that shoppers cannot always determine a store-brand salad’s manufacturer on their own. The label may identify only the retailer, while the most useful code is decipherable only by companies within the supply chain.
For safety purposes, the best evidence is an exact match with a government, manufacturer or retailer recall notice—not a familiar-looking bag, a barcode search or a two-letter code circulating on social media.
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