💊 FDA Data Scraper — openFDA Recalls, Adverse Events & Drug Labels (No API Key)

Scrape U.S. FDA drug, device and food data straight from the official openFDA API — drug recalls, drug adverse events (20M+ records), drug labels, device recalls, device adverse events (24M+ records), 510(k) clearances and food recalls. Get clean, flat, structured JSON with recalling firm, product description, recall reason, Class I/II/III classification, status and report dates, filtered with openFDA's own search syntax. Fast, reliable, no browser, no API key, no login — one run can return tens of thousands of records.

🏆 Why this FDA scraper?

9 FDA datasets · tens of thousands of records per run · official openFDA API (never blocked, no fragile HTML parsing) · openFDA search-syntax filtering · export to JSON / CSV / Excel. A friendlier openFDA data export / API alternative for legal case-sourcing, regulatory compliance monitoring, drug-safety research and pharmacovigilance.

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✨ What this Actor does / Key features

• 💊 9 FDA datasets — drug recalls, drug adverse events, drug labels, device recalls, device adverse events, device 510(k) clearances, food recalls, food adverse events and animal & veterinary adverse events.
• 🛡️ Official openFDA API — 100% reliable, never blocked, no captchas, no fragile HTML parsing and no breakage on website redesigns.
• 🔑 No API key, no login — just pick a dataset and run. An openFDA key is fully optional (for higher rate limits only).
• 📈 Massive scale — 20M+ drug adverse events, 24M+ device adverse events; tens of thousands of records per run.
• 🔎 Powerful filtering — use openFDA search syntax to filter by recalling_firm, classification, report_date ranges, product type and any other field.
• ⚖️ Legal & compliance ready — enforcement/recall and adverse-event feeds are ideal for product-liability sourcing and regulatory monitoring.
• 🎚️ Adjustable run size — set maxRecords to cap the run or 0 to pull everything available for your query.
• 📤 Structured, export-ready output — flat JSON records, perfect for JSON, CSV, Excel, databases or BI tools.
• ⏰ Built for scheduling — recalls and adverse events update constantly; run on a schedule for an always-fresh safety feed.

🚀 Quick start (3 steps)

1. Configure — pick a dataset (e.g. drug/enforcement for drug recalls) and optionally add a searchQuery filter like classification:"Class I".
2. Run — click Start. The Actor calls the official openFDA API and streams structured records straight into your dataset.
3. Get your data — open the Output tab and export to JSON, CSV, Excel or XML, or pull it via the Apify API.

No code, no API key and no login required.

📥 Input

Pick a dataset — everything else is optional. Add a searchQuery to narrow the pull and a maxRecords cap to control run size.

Example — the most serious (Class I) drug recalls

{
  "dataset": "drug/enforcement",
  "searchQuery": "classification:\"Class I\"",
  "maxRecords": 10000
}

Example — every device recall for a specific firm

{
  "dataset": "device/recall",
  "searchQuery": "recalling_firm:medtronic",
  "maxRecords": 0
}

Example — drug adverse events in a date range (pharmacovigilance)

{
  "dataset": "drug/event",
  "searchQuery": "receivedate:[20260101+TO+20261231]",
  "maxRecords": 5000
}

Field	Type	Description
dataset	string (enum)	Which openFDA dataset to scrape: drug/enforcement (drug recalls), drug/event (drug adverse events, 20M+), drug/label (drug labels, 258K), device/recall, device/event (device adverse events, 24M+), device/510k (510(k) clearances), food/enforcement (food recalls), food/event (food adverse events), animalandveterinary/event. Default drug/enforcement.
searchQuery	string	Optional openFDA search filter, e.g. classification:"Class I", recalling_firm:pfizer, or report_date:[20260101+TO+20261231]. Leave empty for all records.
maxRecords	integer	Maximum records to save. 0 = all available for the query (openFDA caps a single query at ~26,000 — narrow with searchQuery for more). Minimum 0. Prefilled at 200.
apiKey	string (secret)	Optional openFDA API key for higher rate limits (240 req/min, 120k/day vs 240/min, 1k/day). The Actor works fine without it. Get a free key at open.fda.gov.
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy settings. Leave empty to let the Actor auto-pick a working group (residential or US datacenter), since openFDA rate-limits the default shared pool.

Finding a search filter: openFDA uses a simple field:value syntax. Combine terms with +AND+, use quotes for phrases (classification:"Class I"), and use [start+TO+end] for date/number ranges (report_date:[20260101+TO+20261231]). Field names differ per dataset — see the openFDA field reference for each endpoint.

📤 Output

One row per FDA record — flat, structured JSON, exportable to JSON, CSV, Excel or XML. The fields below are the common enforcement/recall fields surfaced across datasets; the exact fields available depend on the chosen dataset. Here is a trimmed sample record:

{
  "_dataset": "drug/enforcement",
  "recalling_firm": "Example Pharma Inc.",
  "product_description": "Example Drug 10mg Tablets, 100-count bottle",
  "reason_for_recall": "Failed dissolution specifications",
  "classification": "Class I",
  "status": "Ongoing",
  "city": "Trenton",
  "state": "NJ",
  "country": "United States",
  "recall_number": "D-1234-2026",
  "report_date": "20260115",
  "recall_initiation_date": "20260108",
  "product_type": "Drugs",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-06T08:30:00.000Z"
}

💡 Use cases

• Legal case sourcing — product-liability and drug-injury firms monitor recalls and adverse events at scale to identify plaintiffs and cases.
• Regulatory compliance — maintain an always-current FDA enforcement feed for your own product categories and classifications.
• Competitor & market intelligence — track competitor recalls, adverse-event reports and 510(k) clearances.
• Drug & device safety — pharmacovigilance and post-market surveillance from FDA's official adverse-event data.
• Risk & insurance analytics — quantify recall frequency and severity by firm, product type and classification.
• Journalism & watchdogs — surface Class I recalls and safety trends as they are reported.
• Research datasets — build reproducible, exportable FDA datasets for academic or health-tech work.

👥 Who uses it

Product-liability & drug-injury law firms · pharma and medical-device compliance & regulatory teams · drug-safety / pharmacovigilance analysts · health-tech companies & data scientists · insurers and risk analysts · investigative journalists & consumer watchdogs · academic and clinical researchers building FDA safety datasets.

💰 Pricing

This Actor runs on a simple pay-per-result model — you pay for the records you extract, with no separate Apify platform fees to calculate. Try it on the free tier first, then scale up. See the Pricing tab on this page for the current rate.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an FDA or openFDA API key? No. The Actor uses the public openFDA API, which is accessible without an API key, account or login. You can optionally add a free openFDA key for higher rate limits, but it is not required.

Can I scrape FDA data without an API key or login? Yes. There is no FDA account, login or API key required — only an Apify account. The Actor pulls publicly available FDA records over the official openFDA API.

Is this an openFDA API alternative? It is a ready-to-run openFDA data extraction tool that calls the official openFDA API for you, so you skip writing code, handling pagination and managing rate limits — a practical openFDA API alternative for non-developers who just want the data in CSV or JSON.

Does the FDA have a public API? Yes — openFDA is the FDA's official open-data API. This Actor reads it directly, which is why results are reliable and never break with website redesigns. It simply wraps that API in a no-code, export-ready interface.

Which FDA datasets can I scrape? Nine: drug recalls (enforcement), drug adverse events (20M+), drug labels (258K), device recalls, device adverse events (24M+), device 510(k) clearances, food recalls, food adverse events, and animal & veterinary adverse events.

How much data can I get in one run? Tens of thousands of records. openFDA caps a single query at roughly 26,000 records — to extract more, split your work with narrower searchQuery filters (e.g. by date range or firm) across multiple runs.

How do I filter FDA recalls or adverse events? Use the searchQuery field with openFDA's search syntax. Examples: classification:"Class I", recalling_firm:pfizer, report_date:[20260101+TO+20261231]. Leave it empty to pull everything.

How do I export openFDA data to CSV or JSON? Pick a dataset, run the Actor, then download the results as CSV, JSON, Excel or XML from the dataset — or pull them via the Apify API. FDA recalls and adverse-events export becomes a one-click job.

How do I get only Class I FDA drug recalls? Pick the drug/enforcement dataset and set searchQuery to classification:"Class I" to export just the most serious drug recalls.

Can I pull all FDA recalls for a specific company? Yes. Use a searchQuery like recalling_firm:pfizer on any enforcement dataset to collect every recall linked to that firm.

Is it legal to scrape FDA data? Yes — openFDA is the FDA's official open-data API, intended for public programmatic access. The Actor collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for how you use and present it.

How fast is it and does it get blocked? It's fast and reliable — because it uses the official API there are no captchas or anti-bot blocks. The Actor auto-selects a working proxy group to avoid openFDA's shared-pool rate limits.

Can I schedule it and what export formats are supported? Yes. Schedule it on Apify to keep recalls and adverse events continuously up to date. Results export to JSON, CSV, Excel or XML, or via the Apify API, Google Sheets and webhooks.

🔗 More public & government data scrapers by logiover

Building a compliance, health or B2B research pipeline? Pair this FDA scraper with the rest of the public-data suite:

Dataset	Actor
🩺 Clinical trials	ClinicalTrials.gov Scraper
👩‍⚕️ US healthcare providers	NPI Registry Scraper
📄 SEC Form D filings	SEC EDGAR Form D Scraper
💵 US federal spending	USAspending.gov Scraper
🌍 Global trade data	UN Comtrade Trade Data Scraper
🏢 US (NY) company registry	New York Company Registry Scraper
🇬🇧 UK companies	UK Companies House Bulk Scraper
🇫🇷 France companies	France Company Registry Scraper
🆔 Global LEI codes	GLEIF LEI Scraper
🇫🇮 Finland companies	Finland Company Registry Scraper

👉 Browse all logiover scrapers on Apify Store — 180+ actors across real estate, jobs, crypto, social media & B2B data.

⏰ Scheduling & integration

Schedule this Actor on Apify to run daily for an always-fresh FDA recalls and adverse-events feed. Export results to JSON, CSV or Excel, pull them through the Apify API, or connect the dataset to Google Sheets, webhooks or your compliance and analytics pipelines. Wire it into Make, n8n or Zapier to build automated regulatory-monitoring workflows.

⭐ Support & feedback

Found a bug or need an extra field? Open an issue on the Issues tab — response is usually fast. If this Actor saves you time, a ★★★★★ review on the Store page genuinely helps and is hugely appreciated. 🙏

⚖️ Legal

This Actor extracts only publicly available data from the FDA's official openFDA API and is intended for legitimate research, analytics, compliance and legal-sourcing use. You are responsible for complying with the openFDA terms of service and any applicable local laws and regulations governing how you use and present the data.

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📝 Changelog

2026-07-06

• ✨ README overhaul: static badge row, ready-to-run example scenarios, collapsible full field reference, richer FAQ covering the openFDA API-alternative / no-key / CSV-export keyword gaps, and a public/government-data cross-promo grid.

2026-07-01

• Maintenance pass: re-verified end-to-end on live data and confirmed successful runs within the 5-minute quality window on the default input.
• Sharpened Store metadata (SEO title & description) and expanded the FAQ with high-intent, long-tail questions for easier discovery in Google and Apify Store search.
• Added ready-to-run example tasks that cover common real-world use cases.

2026-06-15

• Reliability pass: re-verified end-to-end on live data with real-world inputs. Routine maintenance build.

2026-06-07

• Docs: added coverage for openFDA API alternative, exporting FDA recalls/adverse events to CSV/JSON, and building an FDA dataset without code.

2026-06-05

• 🛡️ Reliability fix: results are no longer dropped by strict output validation — runs now complete cleanly even at high volume (thousands of results).
• ⚡ Stability & performance hardening; fresh rebuild.

2026-06-04

• Verified live & refreshed build — reliability/maintenance pass.

2026-06-01

• Maintenance & reliability pass: pulled the latest source and rebuilt the Actor on the current base image; build verified.

2026-05-25

• Maintenance & reliability pass: pulled the latest source and rebuilt the Actor on the current base image; build verified.

2026-05-20

• Maintenance pass: reviewed the input schema and default values for a smooth one-click start, and rebuilt the Actor on the latest base image.