Food recalls happen every week in the United States. The FDA and USDA together issue hundreds of food recalls each year covering everything from fresh produce and canned goods to packaged snacks, frozen meals, and beverages. A recalled food may contain harmful bacteria, undeclared allergens, foreign objects, or mislabeled ingredients — any of which can cause serious harm.
There are currently multiple food recalls tracked on Recall Tracker, sourced from FDA, USDA, Health Canada, UK OPSS, EU Safety Gate, and other agencies.
This hub page explains how food recalls work, which agencies have jurisdiction, and links to detailed guides for specific food types.
Step 1: Identify the product.
Find the brand name, product name, and variety. If you have the original packaging, locate the lot code and best-by date — these are the most important identifiers in recall notices.
Step 2: Note the UPC barcode.
The UPC code on the packaging uniquely identifies the specific product. Different sizes, flavors, and varieties of the same brand have different UPCs.
Step 3: Search Recall Tracker.
Go to Recall Tracker and search your brand or product name. Filter by agency — FDA for most packaged food, USDA for meat, poultry, and egg products. Compare the lot code and best-by date on your product against any active recalls returned.
Step 4: Use the barcode scanner.
The barcode scanner at /scan lets you scan any food product's UPC directly to check it against the recall database — the fastest method when you have the physical product.
Step 5: Set up brand alerts.
Visit brands and follow the brands you regularly buy. You will receive automatic notifications if any future recall is issued for those brands.
Understanding which agency has jurisdiction over your food is important — a recall for ground beef will appear under USDA, while a recall for canned vegetables will appear under FDA.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) oversees the majority of the U.S. food supply — roughly 80% by some estimates. FDA jurisdiction covers:
See the FDA agency page for more on how FDA recall authority works under FSMA.
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) oversees meat, poultry, and processed egg products. USDA jurisdiction covers:
See the USDA agency page for more on how USDA recall authority works.
Recall Tracker also monitors food recalls from Health Canada, the UK OPSS, the EU Safety Gate, and other international agencies. If you purchase imported food products, international recall notices may be relevant.
Browse detailed guides for specific food categories. Each page explains the most common recall reasons, how to check your specific product, and what to do if it is affected.
Bacterial pathogens are the leading cause of serious food recalls in the United States. The most frequently involved organisms are:
Salmonella — Found in a wide range of foods including poultry, eggs, peanut butter, spices, and produce. Salmonella causes an estimated 1.35 million infections annually in the United States. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps beginning 6 hours to 6 days after exposure.
Listeria monocytogenes — Particularly associated with ready-to-eat foods including deli meats, soft cheeses, smoked seafood, and frozen produce. Listeria is especially dangerous for pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65, and immunocompromised individuals. It can grow at refrigerator temperatures, unlike most foodborne pathogens.
E. coli O157:H7 and other Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) — Most commonly associated with ground beef and fresh leafy greens. Can cause severe hemorrhagic colitis and, in a subset of cases, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening kidney condition.
Clostridium botulinum — Produces a potent neurotoxin associated primarily with improperly processed canned goods. Though rare, botulism recalls are treated as Class I (highest priority) because of the severe and potentially fatal nature of the illness.
Undeclared allergens are the single most common reason for food recalls in the United States. The nine major food allergens — milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame (added under the FASTER Act of 2023) — must be declared on all food labels. Recalls occur when:
For individuals with severe food allergies, undeclared allergen exposures can cause anaphylaxis, a life-threatening systemic reaction requiring immediate epinephrine treatment.
Physical contaminants in food — including metal fragments, hard plastic, glass, rubber, bone fragments, insects, and other extraneous material — cause recalls that may not carry the same acute disease risk as microbial or allergen recalls but present genuine injury hazards. Hard or sharp foreign objects can cause choking, laceration of the mouth or digestive tract, and dental damage.
Mislabeling recalls cover a wide range, including products that do not accurately identify their ingredients, country of origin, net weight, or other required label information. While some mislabeling recalls are low-risk (wrong weight declaration), others — such as incorrect allergen information or failure to identify a controlled substance — can be serious.
Stop consuming the product immediately. Set it aside and prevent other household members from eating it.
Identify everyone who ate it. Note when it was consumed, how it was prepared (cooked versus raw), and in what quantity. This information is important for assessing risk and for any healthcare visit.
Assess your risk. For allergen recalls, consider whether anyone in your household has the relevant allergy. For microbial recalls, consider whether any household members are in a high-risk group — pregnant, elderly, immunocompromised, or young children.
Contact a healthcare provider if symptomatic or at high risk. Many foodborne illnesses have incubation periods of days to weeks — do not wait until symptoms appear if you are in a high-risk group and consumed a recalled product linked to listeria or other serious pathogens.
Keep the packaging with lot code and UPC visible for any healthcare visit and for claiming a refund.
Contact the manufacturer using information in the recall notice to request a refund or replacement.
Dispose of the product safely in a sealed container in a covered trash receptacle.
Report illness to the FDA at fda.gov/safety/medwatch or to your state health department.
The FDA issues food recalls frequently — multiple times per week on average. The number varies by year, but hundreds of food recall events occur annually across all food categories. Most are Class II (remote probability of adverse health consequences) or Class III (not likely to cause adverse consequences), but Class I recalls (reasonable probability of serious adverse health consequences or death) do occur regularly.
The FDA classifies recalls by health risk. Class I recalls involve products where there is a reasonable probability that use will cause serious adverse health consequences or death — this category includes most listeria, E. coli, and salmonella recalls involving ready-to-eat foods. Class II recalls involve products that may cause temporary adverse health consequences but where the probability of serious harm is remote. Class III recalls involve products that are unlikely to cause any adverse health consequences but violate FDA regulations. You can filter recalls by class on Recall Tracker.
A recall involves a product that violates a law enforced by the FDA or USDA. A market withdrawal involves a minor violation that would not be subject to legal action, or a minor defect that the company chooses to address voluntarily. Market withdrawals are not tracked the same way as official recalls. Recall Tracker focuses on official regulatory recalls.
For allergen-related recalls, cooking does not make the product safe — allergen proteins are not neutralized by heat. For foreign material recalls, cooking does not remove physical contaminants. For microbial recalls, thorough cooking to a safe internal temperature generally kills pathogens — but this approach carries risk because achieving uniform safe temperatures throughout a product is difficult to guarantee, and the FDA advises discarding recalled products rather than attempting to make them safe through cooking.
Search all current food recalls on Recall Tracker, scan a product barcode to check instantly, or browse brands to set up alerts for the products you buy regularly. As of {{CURRENT_DATE}}, Recall Tracker is actively monitoring food recalls from FDA, USDA, Health Canada, UK OPSS, EU Safety Gate, and four additional agencies worldwide.
Start with the product name, brand, lot code, and UPC on the package, then compare them to the official recall listing. If you have the item in hand, RecallTracker’s barcode scanner at /scan is the fastest way to check packaged foods and pull up matching recall details. For broader searches, you can also look up the manufacturer on /brands.
Common categories include meat and poultry, dairy products, leafy greens, fresh produce, prepared meals, nut products, and packaged foods with undeclared allergens. Many recalls happen because of Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, or missing allergen labeling, and you can see category trends over time on /statistics. If you shop across multiple brands, /brands helps you see whether a company has had repeated recalls.
Yes, a barcode can help identify many packaged foods quickly, especially items sold with a UPC. RecallTracker’s scanner at /scan is useful for snacks, canned foods, frozen products, beverages, and other retail packages, but fresh foods and butcher-counter items may require a brand or product-name search instead. If the barcode does not match, search by brand on /brands and confirm the lot code or best-by date.
First, read the recall reason and hazard, because the next step depends on whether the issue is bacteria, a foreign object, or an undeclared allergen. If anyone has symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, trouble breathing, or signs of an allergic reaction, contact a medical professional right away; otherwise, keep the packaging, lot code, and receipt if possible. You can use RecallTracker to save searches and monitor repeat alerts, and Premium details are available on /pricing.
Yes, because some recalled foods stay in freezers, pantries, garages, or emergency supplies long after the recall date. Frozen items, canned goods, baby food, supplements, and bulk products can remain in a household for months or even years, so checking past recalls on /statistics and searching brands on /brands can still uncover a risk. Premium options on /pricing are useful if you want ongoing tracking instead of one-time searches.