Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. How many food recalls are for undeclared allergens each year?
  2. How fast are US prices rising?
  3. How long do Americans live, and how has that changed since 1900?

Printable worksheet each chart with its source, date and space to write answers

Chart 1 of 3 · Food and drug safety

How many food recalls are for undeclared allergens each year?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

The FDA classified 190 food recalls in 2025 for an allergen left off the label, such as milk, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, eggs, fish, shellfish or sesame; the most since 2013 was 282 in 2017. From 2013 through 2025, undeclared allergens were the most common reason food was recalled. A recall counts once however many products it covers, in the year FDA first listed it in its weekly Enforcement Report. Chartly sorted FDA's written reasons by their key words; a recall for a germ as well counts under the germ. Meat, poultry and most egg products are USDA's to recall and aren't included. The newest allergen recalls, this year's included, are listed below.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Enforcement Reports (openFDA food recall data) (Public domain (U.S. government work); source U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA) · Data as of Nov 4, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers
Cite this chart (MLA, APA, Chicago)

  • MLA

    “How Many Food Recalls Are for Undeclared Allergens Each Year?” Chartly, 4 Nov. 2026, chart.ly/charts/food-allergen-recalls-per-year. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

  • APA

    Chartly. (2026, November 4). How many food recalls are for undeclared allergens each year? [Chart]. Retrieved November 12, 2026, from https://chart.ly/charts/food-allergen-recalls-per-year

  • Chicago

    Chartly. “How Many Food Recalls Are for Undeclared Allergens Each Year?” Chart. Data from U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Enforcement Reports (openFDA food recall data). Updated November 4, 2026. Accessed November 12, 2026. https://chart.ly/charts/food-allergen-recalls-per-year.

Chart 2 of 3 · Inflation

How fast are US prices rising?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

The inflation rate was 3.7% in September 2026: how much consumer prices changed from the same month a year earlier. Each point makes that comparison, back to 1914, the first year BLS can compare. Inflation peaked at 23.7% in June 1920 and at 14.8% in March 1980; the 9.1% of June 2022 was the highest since 1981. Prices fell as fast as 15.8% a year in 1921 and 10.7% in 1932. BLS collected no prices in October 2025, during a lapse in federal funding, so that month and October 2026 are missing.

How to read this chart

Each point compares consumer prices in a month with the same month a year earlier. A value of 3 means things cost about 3% more than a year before; below zero means prices fell. The chart shows how fast prices change, not how high they are.

Questions to discuss

  1. Find two times when inflation was highest. What was happening in the country then?
  2. If inflation falls from 8% to 3%, are prices going down, or just rising more slowly?
  3. Find a stretch when the line is below zero. Why might falling prices be bad news for workers and businesses?

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, all items) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers
Cite this chart (MLA, APA, Chicago)

  • MLA

    “How Fast Are US Prices Rising?” Chartly, 30 Sept. 2026, chart.ly/charts/us-inflation-rate. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

  • APA

    Chartly. (2026, September 30). How fast are US prices rising? [Chart]. Retrieved November 12, 2026, from https://chart.ly/charts/us-inflation-rate

  • Chicago

    Chartly. “How Fast Are US Prices Rising?” Chart. Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, all items). Updated September 30, 2026. Accessed November 12, 2026. https://chart.ly/charts/us-inflation-rate.

Chart 3 of 3 · Health

How long do Americans live, and how has that changed since 1900?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

A baby born in the US in 2018 could expect to live 78.7 years, up from 47.3 in 1900. The sharpest drop was in 1918, to 39.1 years, during the influenza pandemic. This CDC dataset stops at 2018; later NCHS reports put life expectancy at 78.4 years in 2023 and 79.0 in 2024, after a fall during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How to read this chart

Each point is how long a baby born in that year could expect to live, if death rates stayed as they were that year. It is an average, so it is pulled down a lot when many babies and young people die. Hover or tap a point to read its year and value.

Questions to discuss

  1. Find the sharpest drop on the chart. What happened in the world that year?
  2. Life expectancy in 1900 was under 50. Does that mean most adults died in their 40s? What else could lower the average?
  3. What changes in medicine, food or public health could explain the long rise?

Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Death rates and life expectancy at birth (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2018

Open the chart and its numbers
Cite this chart (MLA, APA, Chicago)

  • MLA

    “How Long Do Americans Live, and How Has That Changed Since 1900?” Chartly, 31 Dec. 2018, chart.ly/charts/us-life-expectancy. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

  • APA

    Chartly. (2018, December 31). How long do Americans live, and how has that changed since 1900? [Chart]. Retrieved November 12, 2026, from https://chart.ly/charts/us-life-expectancy

  • Chicago

    Chartly. “How Long Do Americans Live, and How Has That Changed Since 1900?” Chart. Data from CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Death rates and life expectancy at birth. Updated December 31, 2018. Accessed November 12, 2026. https://chart.ly/charts/us-life-expectancy.

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