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.
Chart 1 of 1 · Food and drug safety
How serious are food recalls?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Of the 7,081 food recalls the FDA classified from 2013 through 2025, 2,885 (about 41%) were Class I, meaning the food could cause serious harm or death, as with Listeria, Salmonella or an allergen missing from the label. 3,616 (51%) were Class II, and 580 (8%) Class III, unlikely to harm anyone. A recall with products in several classes counts in its most serious one. Meat, poultry and most egg products are USDA's to recall and aren't included.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- 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 Dec 31, 2025
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