FDA Food Recall Reports Fell 17% This Year, and the Most Serious Class Fell 36%; Listeria Entries Dropped by Nearly Four-Fifths
Salmonella remains the leading cause of Class I recalls. Entries citing possible botulism tripled.
Original reporting from public records by Watchman Report staff ·
The Food and Drug Administration's enforcement reports list 1,130 recalled food products from Jan. 1 through Oct. 28 this year, down from 1,355 in the same period of 2025, a decline of about 17%, according to Watchman Report's analysis of the agency's public openFDA food enforcement data. Those products belong to 419 recall events, down from 457.
Class I recalls, which the FDA uses when there is a reasonable probability that a product will cause serious health problems or death, fell further: 395 product entries this year, compared with 621 a year earlier, a drop of about 36%. Counted by recall event, Class I fell from 181 to 158. Class III recalls, the least serious, rose from 91 entries to 148.
Product entries citing Listeria fell from 325 to 71, and Listeria recall events from 41 to 20. Salmonella entries fell from 233 to 187, but Salmonella events rose slightly, from 61 to 67, and Salmonella is the most common cause of Class I recalls this year (179 entries). Entries citing undeclared ingredients, such as allergens or color additives, held steady at 371, compared with 358. Entries citing possible Clostridium botulinum contamination rose from 16 to 49, driven largely by three Class II recalls of 13 to 14 products each.
California companies accounted for the most recalled products (305), followed by Idaho (130) and New York (114), based on the recalling firm's listed state. As of the latest update, 607 of this year's product entries were still listed as ongoing.
Watchman Report queried the openFDA food enforcement API (last updated Oct. 28, 2026) for reports with report dates from Jan. 1 to Oct. 28 in 2025 and 2026, and categorized each entry by keywords in the FDA's "reason for recall" field (for example, "Listeria," "Salmonella," "undeclared," "botulinum"). All counts and percentages are Watchman Report's calculations. openFDA notes its data are unvalidated, and enforcement reports can lag the date a recall begins.
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