Food recalls are on the rise. Here's why and whether you should be worried

Everywhere you look, it seems like another food item is being taken off the market because of contaminants or improper labeling. Trader Joe's has issued six voluntary recalls in five weeks, while companies like Hillshire Farms, Banquet and Skippy are warning customers that their groceries may contain foreign objects like plastic, stainless steel and even bone fragments. 

But are we actually seeing more food recalls than before? And if so, how worried should consumers be? Let's investigate. 

Are we actually seeing more food recalls than before? 

Food recalls are becoming more common, according to data from reporting agencies. There has been an upward trend for a while. According to a 2019 report from the non-partisan Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the number of food recalls in the United States increased by 10% between 2013 and 2018, hitting a peak of 905 in 2016. 

TIME reported that "class I recalls — those based on a 'reasonable probability' that contaminated food could cause health problems — of meat and poultry rose by 83% during this time period." 

In March 2023, a new report was released from the Sedgwick organization, which collects and compiles recall and safety information across several industries, that found that The total number of "units" recalled under the authority of the FDA increased by around 700 %  in 2022 compared to 2021.

In terms of overseeing recalls, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is in charge of meat, dairy and poultry products, which make up about 20% of the country's food supply, while The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in charge of virtually everything else put on American plates. 

According to Food Safety News reporter Coral Beach, the number of Food and Drug Administration food recalls rose marginally at a rate of 2.2 percent from 414 recalls in 2021 to 423 recalls in 2022. 

"However, the number of 'units,' such as individual bags of salad or containers of infant formula, went up 700.6 percent," Beach wrote. "There were 52.1 million recalled units in 2021 with an average size of 125,796 units compared to 416.9 million units in 2022 with an average recall size of 985,658 units." 

What is behind the increasing number of food recalls? 

Much like our country's increasingly industrialized global food supply chain — it's complicated. There is no single reason that we are seeing an uptick in food recalls. However, there are several trends that are worth exploring. 

The first and largest is that the distance between the origin point of our food and our plates is growing farther and farther apart with each passing decade; for instance, in 1870, 100% of all apples consumed in Iowa were also produced there, but by 1999, only 15% of apples consumed in Iowa were actually grown by Iowan farmers. This can make tracing individual contaminants particularly difficult, especially if there are mismatches in technology usage throughout the process. This was addressed by former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a 2020 statement following two outbreaks of E. coli  in romaine lettuce where records were being kept mostly on paper. 

"In the wake of these two incidents, we worked with industry on common sense changes, like providing greater clarity on package labeling by including harvest date and location, and calling for industry to better improve traceability," Gottlieb said. 

He continued: "When the lack of transparency in supply chains delays the identification of contamination sources and the root causes of product problems, the economic and public health costs can be considerable."

Another reason we may be seeing more recalls is actually the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which was originally drafted and approved in 2011, though some compliance rules didn't go into full effect until more recently. 

Under the guidelines, the FDA actually has more resources and funding to increase the frequency and rigor of inspections of food facilities. This is to ideally catch issues before they arise. However, in tandem with that, the FDA was also granted unilateral authority to mandate recalls of contaminated or adulterated food products. Prior to the implementation of the FSMA, recalls were mostly voluntary actions taken by manufacturers. 

So, a small percentage of the increased recalls is likely stemming from that development. However, it's important to note that, per the FDA, food recalls are still "usually voluntarily initiated by the manufacturer or distributor of the food." 

This makes sense because, put plainly, food manufacturers and distributors want to get contaminated items off the market before someone is injured or dies, potentially prompting a lawsuit. 

Should you be worried? 

While the uptick in recalls is disconcerting, some experts say that it actually points to increased vigilance about consumer safety (albeit once the items have actually reached market). In speaking with TIME, Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the Center for Food Safety, shared this point of view. 

"You want things recalled before anybody dies. You want things recalled, ideally, before anybody's sick," Hanson says. "If companies think that the FDA and the USDA are looking over their shoulder, they're going to do a better job."

This to say, more recalls doesn't necessarily mean that there's more bad food on the market; it means that there are more checks and balances in place to catch that bad food before it ends up on someone's plate. 

However, if you are still concerned about contaminants, one of the simplest solutions is to become more familiar with where your food actually originates and the conditions under which it was made or processed. There's a big difference between the industrialized meat-packing industry (which the Washington Post aptly described as "rest[ing] on a thin reed of worker abuse and poor sanitation") and a regional farm. 

When your budget and time allow, purchase products with clear points of origin — for all its ingredients — and eat more whole foods. While you may find, say, bone fragments in industrially-produced sausage, it's unlikely that's what you'll find biting into a locally-grown apple.