2024 felt like the year of food recalls. Across so many states, and certainly all over social media, popular foods and brands trended for recalls due to contamination that caused illness and, in rare cases, death. Boar’s Head deli meats, McDonald’s and Taylor Farm’s slivered onions, Grimmway Farms organic carrots (impacting over 40 brands!), several domestic produce processors of cucumbers, onions, lettuce, and spinach, all had us checking our grocery receipts, cleaning the fridge and (hopefully) tossing the potentially contaminated goods. Sure, it felt wasteful, but foodborne illness is very real, and being extra cautious is very much advised in the face of abundant food recalls.
Yes, it felt like most weeks of 2024 we learned about a new recalled product, but was 2024 really the year of food recalls? Or is it just the era when we became more aware of the potential dangers of our standard grocery products? Here’s what an expert (and the data) has to say.
- Dr. Susan Harlander, a food microbiologist and molecular biologist with more than four decades of experience in the food industry
Have There Been More Food Recalls Than Normal?
“The food safety landscape in 2024 has been plagued by foodborne illness outbreaks, which have had a major impact on the food industry, public health, and individual consumers,” says food microbiologist Dr. Susan Harlander. While we don’t yet know the final statistics for 2024, past data from the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC), which includes the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), indicates foodborne illness affect an estimated 9 million people in the United States every year. Of those millions, 56,000 are hospitalized and 1,300 die of a foodborne disease caused by Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria monocytogenes, many of which were found in recalled foods in this year.
“When commonly used food items are involved in foodborne illness outbreaks, and particularly if the food is broadly distributed to many states, coverage in local and national news media and on social media increases,” Harlander says.
That is, while food recalls seem to dominate the news cycle, it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy of attentional bias and the social media algorithm.
Still, even if we don’t have a complete dataset from the IFSAC for 2024, we do know that food recalls from the FDA are currently on the rise. According to FDA data, there were 1,563 food and cosmetic recalls in 2023, and there have already been 1,908 food and cosmetic recalls in 2024—representing a 22% increase year over year. However, this isn’t exactly a consistent trend, as 2022 featured more food and makeup recalls than 2023, but far fewer recalls than 2021 and 2020.
When new IFSAC statistics are released in 2025, Americans can get a more comprehensive look back and see if foodborne illness was more rampant in 2024 than previous years, but so far the overall number of recalls appears to be consistent with those in years past.
What to Do if You Have Recalled Food
Food that’s been recalled by a corporation, farm, or vendor may not actually be contaminated, but there’s a chance it could be, and that’s why consumers are warned and urged to throw away their recalled goods.
“If you have food in your home that has been associated with a foodborne illness outbreak, even if the food looks and smells fine, it may still be contaminated. Do not eat or serve the food to your family or pets,” Harlander says. “Confirm that the food is part of the recall by checking the brand name, lot number, and expiration or use-by-dates. Dispose of the food in a sealed plastic bag to prevent cross-contamination, and wash your hands thoroughly after handling the food. Clean any surfaces, utensils or containers the food touched.”
If you’re not sure whether your specific ingredient has been recalled, check the FDA’s Food Safety Alerts and Recalls page for updated information. You can also sign up for alerts to be on top of recalls as they happen.
And if you may have eaten the recalled food before disposing of it, don’t panic. “Monitor yourself and your family for symptoms of foodborne illness, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps, and seek medical attention if severe symptoms occur, especially for young children, elderly adults, pregnant women, or those with weakened immune systems,” Harlander says. “If you suspect the food caused an illness, report it to your local health department.”
How to Protect Yourself From Food Recalls
Proper food safety at home can help protect you and your loved ones from a foodborne illness.
“Practice safe food handling by washing hands often, and cleaning surfaces and utensils after each use,” Harlander says. “Always keep raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs separate from ready-to-eat foods to avoid cross-contamination, cook foods to safe internal temperatures, and reheat leftovers to 165 F.”
These practices won’t completely prevent you from contracting a food-related bug, but they’ll certainly help. “By staying informed and maintaining safe food practices, consumers can significantly reduce their risk of foodborne illnesses,” Harlander adds.
In addition to the above tips, you should keep your refrigerator and freezer at the right temperature, and know which potentially suspicious foods to avoid at the supermarket, as these tricks can also help protect you from food recalls.
