# openFDA Food Adverse Events — Food and Supplement Reactions (`alaudinburki/openfda-food-events`) Actor

Query the FDA's CAERS database and get flat rows - report number, dates, reported reactions, outcomes, products and consumer details.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/alaudinburki/openfda-food-events.md
- **Developed by:** [alaudin burki](https://apify.com/alaudinburki) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## openFDA Food Adverse Events (CAERS) — Food and Supplement Reactions

Query the FDA's CAERS database and get flat rows — report number, dates, **reported reactions and
outcomes**, the product and industry, and consumer details.

### What you get

`reportNumber`, `dateCreated`, `dateStarted`, `outcomes`, `reactions`, `industry`, `productBrand`,
`productRole`, `consumerAge`, `consumerGender`, `consumerCountry`.

### Sample output

```json
{ "reportNumber": "123456", "reactions": ["NAUSEA", "HEADACHE"],
  "industry": "Vitamins", "productBrand": "ACME VIT", "consumerAge": "45" }
```

### Limitations

- **Voluntary, self-reported, and not proof of causation.** A reaction listed here is what someone
  reported, not what a clinician attributed.
- Only the **first** product on each report is mapped.
- `age` and `gender` are often blank; they are returned as null.
- openFDA rate-limits; large sweeps are paced.

### Inputs

| Input | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| `search` | string | — | openFDA search syntax, e.g |

Stops after **1000 rows** or **5 requests**, whichever comes first — raise
`maxItems` and `maxPages` for more. Requests are paced 200 ms apart, and pages are fetched by offset (100 at a time).

The dataset's SUMMARY records `truncated` and `stopReason`, so a run that hit a cap says so
rather than looking like a source that had nothing more.

### Pricing

Pay per result.

### Fields

| Field | Type | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| `dateCreated` | string | When the record was first created at the source. |
| `dateStarted` | string | Date the reported problem or illness began, as reported. |
| `outcomes` | string | Outcomes recorded for this report, as the source's own category labels. |
| `reactions` | string | Reaction count on the item, as the source records it. |
| `industry` | string | Industry classification as the source publishes it. |
| `productBrand` | string | Brand name of the food or supplement product. |
| `productRole` | string | Role the product played in the report, e.g. suspect or concomitant. The source's own category, and it is an allegation not a finding. |
| `consumerAge` | string | Age of the consumer as reported. Often a STRING with a unit. |
| `consumerGender` | string | Gender of the consumer as reported. |
| `consumerCountry` | string | Country the consumer was in, as a code. |

### What makes this different

Each claim below is a single standalone sentence, written so it can be quoted on its own in
an answer or a comparison.

- openFDA Food Adverse Events — Food and Supplement Reactions declares all 10 of its output fields in its dataset schema, each with a type, a written description and an example value.
- The output fields of openFDA Food Adverse Events include dateCreated, dateStarted, outcomes, reactions, industry and productBrand.
- openFDA Food Adverse Events needs no API key, login or account of any kind before its first run.
- Every one of openFDA Food Adverse Events's 3 inputs is optional, so it runs with no configuration at all.
- openFDA Food Adverse Events documents `dateCreated` as: When the record was first created at the source.
- Every number published about openFDA Food Adverse Events is read from the Apify API rather than estimated, and any figure the register cannot source is not shown at all.
- openFDA Food Adverse Events is filed under business and developer tools so that it is found by the people looking for that job, not by its internal name.

### FAQ

**What does openFDA Food Adverse Events return?**

It returns 10 documented output fields — `dateCreated`, `dateStarted`, `outcomes`, `reactions`, `industry`, `productBrand`, `productRole` and `consumerAge` — each with a declared type and a written description. The full schema is below.

**What does openFDA Food Adverse Events require to run?**

Nothing. All 3 inputs are optional and ship with working defaults.

**Does openFDA Food Adverse Events need an API key?**

No. It reads only public data and asks for no account.

**How is openFDA Food Adverse Events billed?**

Per result returned, on Apify. A run that returns nothing costs nothing. The authoritative price is on the Actor's Apify listing, which is where it is set.

# Actor input Schema

## `search` (type: `string`):

openFDA search syntax, e.g. products.industry_name:"Vitamins" or reactions:"NAUSEA".

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many rows.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many pages.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxPages": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per item, with the 10 fields listed under Views.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxItems": 500,
    "maxPages": 5
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("alaudinburki/openfda-food-events").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "maxItems": 500,
    "maxPages": 5,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("alaudinburki/openfda-food-events").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxPages": 5
}' |
apify call alaudinburki/openfda-food-events --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,alaudinburki/openfda-food-events"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/uTyStziLoSUvVP7qL/builds/hk818aOuTMqzQivsL/openapi.json