openFDA Recalls Scraper

Scrape FDA drug, food, and device recalls (enforcement reports) from the official openFDA API — classification, reason for recall, recalling firm, distribution, dates, and location. No API key or setup needed.

Pick your categories, filter by a product keyword and a start date, and get a clean, dated list of recalls — ready to export to CSV, Excel, or JSON, or to power a compliance / safety monitor.

Features

• Official, reliable source — reads the public openFDA enforcement API.
• Every recall class — Class I, II, and III, across drugs, food, and devices.
• Rich detail — reason for recall, recalling firm, distribution pattern, voluntary/mandated, and where it was distributed.
• Monitoring-ready — schedule it on your keywords and catch new recalls as they post.

Use cases

• Compliance & safety monitoring — pharmacies, importers, and QA teams tracking recalls in their space.
• Allergen & food-safety alerts — filter food recalls by keyword (e.g. allergen, undeclared).
• Medical device surveillance — track device recalls by class and firm.
• Research & journalism — build datasets of recalls by category, firm, or date.

Input

Field	Type	Description
categories	enum[]	drug, food, device. Default ["drug", "food"].
keyword	string	Optional term matched against the product description.
sinceDate	string	YYYY-MM-DD; only recalls reported on/after this. Defaults to the last 180 days.
maxItems	integer	Max recalls per category. Default 100.

Example

{
  "categories": ["drug", "food"],
  "keyword": "allergen",
  "sinceDate": "2026-01-01",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Output

{
  "category": "drug",
  "recallNumber": "D-0301-2026",
  "status": "Ongoing",
  "classification": "Class II",
  "productDescription": "Metformin Hydrochloride Tablets USP, 500 mg",
  "reason": "CGMP Deviations",
  "recallingFirm": "Example Pharma Inc.",
  "distributionPattern": "Nationwide",
  "voluntaryMandated": "Voluntary: Firm initiated",
  "initiationDate": "2026-01-21",
  "reportDate": "2026-02-11",
  "city": "East Brunswick",
  "state": "NJ",
  "country": "United States",
  "keyword": "allergen",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-11T19:00:00.000Z"
}

Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML, or pull it via the Apify API.

Pricing

Pay-per-event: $0.01 per run start (per GB of run memory) plus $0.50 per 1,000 recalls. You only pay for recalls actually returned. See the Pricing tab for current rates.

FAQ

Do I need an API key? No. openFDA's enforcement API is public and free; this Actor packages it into clean, filtered rows.

What do the recall classes mean? Class I is the most serious (risk of serious harm or death), Class II is moderate, Class III is the least serious.

Can I monitor for new recalls? Yes — schedule the Actor (e.g. daily) with your categories and keyword.

Why did a search return nothing? openFDA returns a 404 when a query matches no recalls; this Actor treats that as an empty result, not an error.

Disclaimer

This Actor uses the public openFDA API. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. FDA. The data is public; you are responsible for how you use it.