How many food recalls are there each year?
The FDA classified 575 food recalls in 2025, the most since 2018; the busiest year was 2016, with 782. About 4 in 10 food recalls since 2013 were Class I, the most serious kind. A recall counts once however many products it covers, in the year FDA first listed it in its weekly Enforcement Report. Meat, poultry and most egg products are recalled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the FDA, and aren't included.
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Key facts
Measure: Food recalls. Written from the data below.
- The latest figure, for 2025, is 575.
- That is up 5% from 548 in 2013.
- The highest was 782 in 2016.
- The lowest was 420 in 2020.
Source and date
- Data as of
- Published
Citation
Chartly. “How many food recalls are there each year?” Chart. Data: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Enforcement Reports (openFDA food recall data), https://open.fda.gov/apis/food/enforcement/ (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/food-recalls-per-year (accessed October 15, 2026).
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The data
Download data (CSV)The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.
| Year FDA classified the recall | Food recalls |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 548 |
| 2014 | 567 |
| 2015 | 583 |
| 2016 | 782 |
| 2017 | 699 |
| 2018 | 578 |
| 2019 | 502 |
| 2020 | 420 |
| 2021 | 448 |
| 2022 | 438 |
| 2023 | 480 |
| 2024 | 461 |
| 2025 | 575 |
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