Food Recalls

What is a Food Recall?

A food recall occurs when there is reason to believe that a food may cause consumers to become ill. A food producer initiates the recall to take foods off the market. In some situations, food recalls are requested by government agencies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A product can be recalled for many reasons including but not limited to

• Discovery of organisms such as bacteria like Salmonella
• Discovery of foreign objects such as broken glass or metal
• Discovery of a major allergen that does not appear on the product label

Food Recall Notices

Notices of recalls and alerts from the FDA and USDA can be found on the CDC website. For more information, select an item below.

What to Do with Recalled Food

If the product details in the recall notice match the details on the food product you have at home, do not open or consume the product. Instead, do one of the following:

• Return the product to the place of purchase for a refund.
• Dispose of the product following the instructions provided in the recall notice to make sure no one will consume it.