# FDA Recall Monitor (`arched_friend/fda-recall-monitor`) Actor

Watch FDA food, drug and device recalls for any product, ingredient, brand or supplier. Returns the firm, the reason, the severity class, the distribution area and the dates, and flags new recalls and FDA reclassifications since your last run.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/arched\_friend/fda-recall-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Peach O](https://apify.com/arched_friend) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$2.00 / 1,000 recall returneds

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

## FDA Recall Monitor: Catch a Recall Before Your Customers Do

Watch FDA food, drug and medical device recalls for any product, ingredient, brand or supplier. You get the firm, what was recalled, why, the severity class, the lot codes and where it was distributed — most serious first, with new recalls and FDA reclassifications flagged on every run after the first.

Built for anyone who has to answer "are we affected?" the same day, and currently finds out from a customer.

### How it works

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    A["Product, ingredient<br/>or supplier"] --> B["openFDA enforcement API"]
    B --> C["Food"]
    B --> D["Drugs"]
    B --> E["Devices"]
    C --> F["One row per recall,<br/>Class I first"]
    D --> F
    E --> F
    F --> G{"Since last run?"}
    G -->|not seen| H["new-recall"]
    G -->|FDA regraded it| I["reclassified"]
```

No scraping and no API key. This reads openFDA, the FDA's own open data API, so it does not break when a page is restyled and it needs no proxy or browser.

### Built for

- **Food and pharma quality teams** answering "are we affected?" on the day
- **Retailers and distributors** watching every supplier at once
- **Compliance and regulatory affairs** keeping an auditable record
- **Insurers and law firms** tracking product liability exposure
- **Brand owners** who want to hear it before a journalist does

### Input

```json
{
  "searchTerms": ["listeria", "undeclared milk"],
  "productTypes": ["food"],
  "maxSeverity": 2,
  "onlyChanged": true
}
```

| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `searchTerms` | Product, ingredient or brand — matched against description, reason and firm |
| `firms` | Watch specific suppliers or competitors |
| `productTypes` | `food`, `drug`, `device`, or all three |
| `lastDays` | How far back to search |
| `classifications` / `statuses` / `states` | Narrow at the source |
| `maxSeverity` | `1` for Class I only, `2` for Class I and II |
| `onlyChanged` | Return nothing on a quiet run |
| `timeBudgetSecs` | How long a run may spend paging before returning what it has |

### Output

```json
{
  "recallNumber": "H-0552-2026",
  "productType": "Food",
  "classification": "Class II",
  "severityRank": 2,
  "status": "Ongoing",
  "recallingFirm": "Uncle Ray's LLC",
  "productDescription": "Lowes Foods sour cream and onion flavored potato chips, 8oz bag, UPC 7 41643 05576 6",
  "reason": "Inaccurate nutritional data including understated sodium content. Undeclared monosodium glutamate.",
  "quantity": "2800 cases",
  "distributionPattern": "NC",
  "codeInfo": "21FEB2026, 28FEB2026",
  "state": "MI",
  "reportDate": "2026-03-18",
  "initiationDate": "2026-02-25",
  "url": "https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts?search_api_fulltext=H-0552-2026",
  "changeType": "reclassified",
  "previousClassification": "Class III",
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-21T18:44:02.771Z"
}
```

Rows come back **most serious first**, so a Class I is at the top of the dataset rather than buried by date.

**FDA regrades recalls after the fact.** A recall is often reported days before it is classified, and a Class III can become a Class I once FDA finishes its assessment. That comes back as `reclassified` with the previous grade — a monitor that only reported recalls it had never seen before would miss the single most important update it could give you.

`codeInfo` carries the lot codes and best-before dates, which is what you actually need to check your own stock against.

### Turn it into a supplier alert

```json
{
  "searchTerms": ["your brand"],
  "firms": ["Your Contract Manufacturer Inc"],
  "onlyChanged": true
}
```

Schedule it daily. The first run records the history without alerting; every run after returns only what is new or has been regraded.

### Run it as an API

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/arched_friend~fda-recall-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "searchTerms": ["salmonella"],
    "productTypes": ["food"],
    "maxSeverity": 1
  }'
```

### Pricing

You pay $0.002 for each recall returned. A run that finds nothing costs nothing.

| Watching an ingredient daily | Monthly cost |
| --- | --- |
| Checking FDA pages by hand | hours every week |
| Recall and food-safety alert services | $200 to $2,000 per month |
| This Actor | under $1 per month for most watch lists |

### Common questions

**A quiet week returns nothing — is it broken?** No. openFDA answers a search that matches nothing with an HTTP 404, and that is handled as an empty result rather than an error. No recalls is the good outcome, and the run succeeds and says so in the summary.

**Why is `severityRank` sometimes null?** Because FDA has not classified that recall yet. It is null rather than defaulted to the least serious grade, and a severity filter deliberately keeps those rows rather than hiding a recall that may turn out to be a Class I.

**Why does the link go to a search page?** openFDA publishes no per-recall permalink, so the link runs the recall number through FDA's own recall search rather than pointing at a URL that would 404.

**Does it cover cosmetics or tobacco?** No. FDA's enforcement API covers food, drugs and devices; those three are what this searches.

**Do I need an API key?** No. openFDA is open and keyless.

### Related products

- **Clinical Trial Monitor** for the same products before they reach the market
- **Regulation Change Monitor** for the FDA rules behind the enforcement
- **Brand Mention Monitor** to catch the press coverage when a recall breaks
- **Amazon Price Tracker** and **Multi-Store Stock Alert** to see a recalled line disappear from shelves

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

What to watch for, one per line, for example peanut, listeria or your own brand name. Each is matched against the product description, the recall reason and the firm name.

## `firms` (type: `array`):

Optional. Limit to specific companies, one per line. Use this to watch a supplier or a competitor.

## `productTypes` (type: `array`):

Which FDA recall databases to search.

## `lastDays` (type: `integer`):

How far back to search. Keep this short for a scheduled run.

## `classifications` (type: `array`):

Limit the search to these classes. Class I means a reasonable probability of serious harm or death. Leave empty for all.

## `statuses` (type: `array`):

Limit to these statuses, for example Ongoing. Leave empty for all.

## `states` (type: `array`):

Optional. Two-letter US state codes, one per line, for example CA.

## `maxSeverity` (type: `integer`):

1 keeps only Class I, 2 keeps Class I and II, 0 keeps everything. Recalls FDA has not classified yet are always kept, because unclassified is not the same as harmless.

## `firmExcludes` (type: `array`):

Drop recalls whose firm name contains any of these, one per line.

## `descriptionExcludes` (type: `array`):

Drop recalls whose product description or reason contains any of these, one per line.

## `onlyChanged` (type: `boolean`):

Return nothing on a quiet run. Turn this on for a scheduled search so you only hear about new recalls, reclassifications and status changes.

## `maxResultsPerType` (type: `integer`):

The most recalls to pull from each database in one run, newest first.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

How long to wait for a single page of results before giving up on it.

## `timeBudgetSecs` (type: `integer`):

How long the run may spend paging before it returns what it has. Keeps a scheduled run predictable.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "listeria"
  ],
  "productTypes": [
    "food",
    "drug",
    "device"
  ],
  "lastDays": 90,
  "classifications": [],
  "statuses": [],
  "maxSeverity": 0,
  "onlyChanged": false,
  "maxResultsPerType": 200,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 45,
  "timeBudgetSecs": 180
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `recalls` (type: `string`):

One row per recall with the firm, product, reason, severity class, distribution area and dates, most serious first, plus what changed since the last run.

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

Counts by severity class and product type, how many are new or reclassified, and how many distinct firms are involved.

# 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 = {
    "searchTerms": [
        "listeria"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("arched_friend/fda-recall-monitor").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 = { "searchTerms": ["listeria"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("arched_friend/fda-recall-monitor").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 '{
  "searchTerms": [
    "listeria"
  ]
}' |
apify call arched_friend/fda-recall-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,arched_friend/fda-recall-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

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/AE5f1ZeMshvIxp2si/builds/co0KWHkTsZg3pfHkn/openapi.json