In 2024, food recalls in the US seemed to soar. Between headline-making outbreaks of listeria and E. coli and problems with undeclared allergens and other possible contaminants, there were 1,908 food and cosmetic recalls during the US Food and Drug Administration's 2024 fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024.
The FDA groups food and cosmetic recalls together, but contributing to the high number of recalls in 2024 were listeria outbreaks at Boar's Head and BrucePac, which resulted in the recall of more than 15 million pounds of ready-to-eat food.
Food recalls weren't at an all-time high in 2024, but they were higher than in some recent years, so we spoke with a food safety expert to get some answers.
Here's a look at the recent history of food recalls and what to expect going into 2025.
Were food recalls higher in 2024 than in 2023?
Yes. You weren't imagining the increase in alerts regarding food recalls. According to data from the FDA, during the 2024 fiscal year, there were just over 1,900 food/cosmetic recalls.
Here's how that stacks up to the last five years:
- In 2023, there were 1,563 food/cosmetic recalls.
- In 2022, there were 1,809 food/cosmetic recalls.
- In 2021, there were 1,026 food/cosmetic recalls.
- In 2020, there were 1,536 food/cosmetic recalls.
- In 2019, there were 2,046 food/cosmetic recalls.
This means 2024's food/cosmetic recalls were the highest since 2019. But that's not the whole picture. Despite the increase in 2024, food/cosmetic recalls were still lower than in any of the seven years before 2020, and in more than half of those years, they were significantly lower. In 2017, for instance, there were 3,609 food/cosmetic recalls, nearly two times the amount in 2024.
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This chart represents how many food/cosmetic recalls there have been in the US each fiscal year since 2012.
US Food and Drug AdministrationWhat was behind the food recalls in 2024?
During the Boar's Head recall, at least 61 people got sick and 10 died, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it the most deadly outbreak of 2024. And the number of people who became ill in connection with the contaminated deli meat is thought to be much higher.
"The recalls that involve listeria are more difficult just because of the kind of bacteria it is," Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the Center for Food Safety, tells CNET.
As a result of the contamination, more than 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry were recalled. A newly released review from the United States Department of Agriculture linked "inadequate sanitation practices" at a Virginia facility to the outbreak.
According to the review, there were "multiple instances of noncompliance with Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures and Sanitation Performance Standards" at the facility, including product residue left on equipment from the previous day's use. The USDA review also cited the need for stronger government inspections and oversight. Boar's Head told USA Today that the company is now working to roll out "enhanced food safety programs across the company."
While sanitation practices and problems contributed to food recalls in 2024, Hanson says there are other factors that need to be considered, including climate change and the location of farms where our food is grown.
"Vegetables in particular are not inspected much," Hanson says, "and we have some really huge meat production operations that are, in my opinion, located too close to vegetable operations."
"If you're pumping water to your vegetable field that's running off of a meat operation, you're going to have salmonella, E. coli and other things in that water that you're pumping onto the field," he adds.
Organic whole bagged carrots and baby carrots sold by Grimmway Farms and distributed at various stores in the U.S. were recalled due to an E. Coli outbreak in 2024.
SimpleImages/Getty ImagesAnother large listeria-related recall involved nearly 12 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat that was produced at a facility in Durant, Oklahoma. According to Food Safety News, ready-to-eat meat is handled much more than raw meat inside of facilities, increasing the chance of contamination.
Hanson says he thinks the "demand for convenience and greater centralization of the production of these foods," is another cause of widespread recalls.
"When every little village used to have a butcher shop that made your liverwursts out of animals that were harvested right there, you didn't spread it to the whole country," he says. "Now, if you've got just a handful of companies producing a huge amount of food, when there's a problem, it gets spread all over the country."
Will recalls rise in 2025?
It's too soon to tell how recalls will fare in the new year, and with the new presidential administration, there's additional uncertainty. One factor contributing to that is a pause in communications from the FDA, CDC and other government agencies, which the Trump Administration ordered this week, as reported by The Washington Post.
"HHS has issued a pause on mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health," Stefanie Spear, the Department of Health and Human Services' principal deputy chief of staff, told CNET in an email. "This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization. There are exceptions for announcements that HHS divisions believe are mission critical, but they will be made on a case-by-case basis."
The pause in communication is set to last until Feb. 1, NPR reported. It's unclear whether the FDA's current protocol of alerting the public to food recalls will change. It's also unclear if the new administration will change any food safety protocols.
"The FDA and USDA now both have good tools to [control outbreaks], but the big question is going to be whether they've got enough money to implement what needs to be done," Hanson says.
Another factor to consider is immigration, he says.
A National Agricultural Workers survey from 2019-2020 showed that about 44% of farmworkers in the US are undocumented. Hanson said mass deportations on the scale called for by President Donald Trump could result in a labor shortage that could lead to "attempts to find more labor saving ways of handling growing our crops."
"A lot of it comes down to how much money Congress gives the FDA and the USDA to make sure things are inspected properly," Hanson says.
How to protect yourself from foodborne illnesses
It's important to pay attention to recalls when they're made public, and to take the necessary precautions when dealing with recalled food, such as discarding it immediately and cleaning any surfaces it may have come into contact with.
You can also begin to buy from your local farmers, so you can trace directly where your food comes from. It's also important to ensure you always cook any meat to the recommended temperature, to kill any possible bacteria.
"If you're cooking meat, always pay attention to the safe temperatures," Hanson says. "A good thermometer will cost you about 10 bucks. Buy it and use it. Your emergency room copay is going to be way more than that thermometer."
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