Shoppers who purchased Gianni’s Cheeky Monkey Ice Cream from Aldi stores across the UK are being urged to stop consuming the product immediately, after the discount supermarket confirmed a recall due to undeclared wheat and gluten in the ingredients. The Food Standards Agency issued an allergen alert following the discovery, confirming the product poses a genuine health risk to anyone living with coeliac disease or a wheat and gluten intolerance.
The affected product is a 500ml tub of Gianni’s Cheeky Monkey Ice Cream, carrying a use-by date of August 14, 2027. Because the label makes no mention of wheat or gluten content, consumers with the relevant allergy or intolerance would have had no way of knowing the danger when purchasing the item. Aldi has acted swiftly by pulling the product from shelves and displaying point-of-sale notices in all stores that stocked it, clearly explaining the reason for the recall and advising customers on next steps.
Anyone who has bought the product and has a sensitivity to wheat or gluten is being told not to consume it under any circumstances. Instead, customers should return the item to their nearest Aldi store, where a full refund will be provided without requiring proof of purchase. Customers with questions can contact Aldi’s Customer Service team on 0800 042 0800, or reach out via the help section of the Aldi website.
The Aldi ice cream recall is part of a broader trend that has seen allergen-related alerts spike sharply across UK supermarkets. According to industry data, Aldi topped the 2025 product recall league table alongside Lidl, having issued eight recall notices over the course of that year, every single one of them relating to undeclared or potentially present allergens. In 2024, the same retailer recalled four products for undeclared allergens, alongside two further items removed due to incorrect use-by date labelling.
This rise in allergen-related recalls is not an Aldi-specific problem. Across the UK food industry, 85 allergen alerts were issued in 2025 alone, the equivalent of roughly one every four days. Total product recalls across food businesses rose by 23 percent year-on-year compared with 2024 figures, with industry analysts noting that a significant proportion of those recalls stem from avoidable errors at the labelling stage rather than contamination during production.
Campaigners and allergy charities have responded to the trend with concern. The co-founder of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation has publicly stated that without transparent labelling processes, people living with food allergies are effectively excluded from the food economy and live in constant fear that what they eat could seriously harm or kill them. The charity was established in memory of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after suffering an allergic reaction to a baguette that did not carry allergen information on its packaging.
Aldi has responded to the latest recall by reiterating that customer safety remains its absolute priority and that the Business acts swiftly whenever any potential allergen risk is identified. The retailer stated that it remains committed to clear allergen labelling and works closely with its supply chain partners to identify improvements following every recall incident. The Food Standards Agency meanwhile has cautioned against reading too much into year-on-year fluctuations in recall volumes, noting that changes in numbers do not necessarily reflect changes in the broader food safety landscape.
For consumers, the message is straightforward. Anyone unsure whether they have purchased the affected product should check the batch information on the base of the tub and contact Aldi directly if in doubt. Those with no allergy or intolerance can also return the product if they prefer, though the health risk applies specifically to those who cannot safely consume wheat or gluten.
Undeclared allergens remain one of the most serious and persistent challenges facing food retailers in Britain, with the consequences ranging from mild discomfort to life-threatening anaphylaxis in the most severe cases.