FDA Recalls Scraper: Drug, Device and Food Recalls from openFDA

$1 per 1,000 recalls. Platform usage included. No rental, no minimum.

Open it in Apify Console

New to Apify? [Create a free account](https://www.apify.com?fpr=ymnoit) (referral link). Runs from a free plan account return the first 10 results; any paid plan returns everything you ask for, up to your limit.

What it costs

Recalls	Price
1,000	$1.00
10,000	$10.00
100,000	$100.00

Plus $0.001 per run. One flat price, platform usage included, so there is no separate compute or proxy bill. A daily run that reads the 40 newest recalls costs $0.041 (40 results plus the run fee), about $1.23 for 30 days. The largest single run is 10,000 recalls.

Why use it

• All three FDA recall lists in one place. Drug, medical device and food and beverage enforcement reports, one row per recalled product, with the recall class (I, II or III), the status, the recalling firm, the reason and the dates.
• Filters that match how people search recalls. Words in the product or the reason (for example listeria or undeclared milk), the company, the class, the status, the state of the firm and a report date range.
• Newest first. Rows come sorted by the date the recall appeared in the weekly FDA Enforcement Report, so a scheduled run picks up what is new.
• Official API, no key. Data comes straight from the openFDA enforcement endpoints. You do not need an openFDA key or a login.
• A check link on every row. apiUrl asks openFDA for that exact recall number, so you can confirm any record at the source.

Quick start

1. Open the actor, pick one or more product types, press Start.
2. Or paste this input:

{ "productTypes": ["food"], "classifications": ["Class I"], "searchTerms": ["listeria"], "reportDateFrom": "2025-01-01", "maxItems": 200 }

3. Download the results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them through the API.

Use it from code

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/one_dollar_store~fda-recalls-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"productTypes": ["food"], "classifications": ["Class I"], "maxItems": 100}'

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("one_dollar_store/fda-recalls-scraper").call(
    run_input={"productTypes": ["food"], "classifications": ["Class I"], "maxItems": 100}
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["reportDate"], item["recallingFirm"], item["reasonForRecall"])

Use it from an AI assistant

Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other assistants can call this actor through Apify's MCP server. Add it with this server address:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=one_dollar_store/fda-recalls-scraper

Then ask, for example: "List the Class I food recalls from the last three months that mention Salmonella, with the company and the states where the product was sent."

Switching from another FDA recalls actor

Most FDA recall actors take a search term, a product type and a result limit. Here they are searchTerms (a list), productTypes (a list, so one run can cover drugs, devices and food) and maxItems. The core output fields are recallNumber, recallingFirm, productDescription, reasonForRecall, classification, status and reportDate.

Input

Field	Type	Default	What it does
productTypes	list	food	drug, device, food. Each is a separate FDA list. Results come one type after the other, in the order you list them.
searchTerms	list of text	none	One phrase per line. A recall is kept when its product description or its reason for recall contains any phrase. Not case sensitive.
recallingFirm	text	none	Company that recalled the product. A part of the name is enough.
classifications	list	all	Class I (most serious), Class II, Class III.
statuses	list	all	Ongoing, Completed, Terminated, Pending, as first published by the FDA.
state	text	none	Two letter US state code of the recalling firm, for example CA.
reportDateFrom, reportDateTo	text	none	Report dates as 2026-01-31. The data starts in 2004.
maxItemsPerType	number	0	Optional cap for each product type, so the first type cannot use the whole run. 0 means no extra cap.
apiKey	text	none	Optional. Your own free openFDA key. Not needed. See Limits.
maxItems	number	100	Total recalls for the run. Minimum 10, maximum 10,000.

Output fields

Field	Meaning
recallNumber, eventId	The FDA recall number (one per product) and the event number that groups products from one recall.
productCategory, productType	drug, device or food (the list the row came from), and the product type as the FDA writes it.
classification, status	Class I, Class II or Class III; Ongoing, Completed, Terminated or Pending.
recallingFirm	The company that recalled the product.
productDescription, reasonForRecall, productQuantity	What was recalled, why, and how much.
codeInfo, moreCodeInfo, productCode	Lot numbers, dates, UPCs and product codes, when the FDA gives them.
distributionPattern	Where the product was sent, for example Nationwide or a list of states.
voluntaryMandated, initialFirmNotification	Whether the firm acted on its own or the FDA ordered it, and how the firm first told customers.
recallInitiationDate, centerClassificationDate, reportDate, terminationDate	Dates as 2026-10-07. The last one is set only when the recall has ended.
address, city, state, postalCode, country	The recalling firm's location.
brandNames, genericNames, manufacturerNames, activeIngredients, ndcCodes, applicationNumbers, routes	openFDA's own annotation for drugs, when the FDA could match the product.
apiUrl	A link that asks openFDA for this recall number.
scrapedAt	When the actor read the record.

Fields a recall does not have are left out.

Sample results

Real rows from test runs on 20 October 2026, with long text shortened and some fields left out.

[
  {"recallNumber": "H-1403-2026", "productCategory": "food", "classification": "Class I", "status": "Ongoing", "recallingFirm": "Coco G's Snack Foods, Inc.", "productDescription": "Coco G's Courmet Flaming Cheddar Hots, Spicy Cheddar Cheese Popcorn. Packaged in the follo ...", "reasonForRecall": "Potential Salmonella contamination.", "distributionPattern": "IL, WI", "reportDate": "2026-10-07", "state": "WI"},
  {"recallNumber": "D-0586-2026", "productCategory": "drug", "classification": "Class II", "status": "Ongoing", "recallingFirm": "Zep Inc", "productDescription": "Zep, Alcohol Sanitizer Spray, Ethanol 70%, Net Contents 55 Gallons 208 Liters, Made in USA ...", "reasonForRecall": "Microbial contamination of sterile products", "distributionPattern": "US Nationwide.", "reportDate": "2026-06-17", "state": "GA"},
  {"recallNumber": "Z-3118-2026", "productCategory": "device", "classification": "Class II", "status": "Ongoing", "recallingFirm": "C.R. Bard Inc", "productDescription": "Products that contain the Pericare Wipes: SureStep\" Foley Tray System Add-A-Foley Catheter ...", "reasonForRecall": "Due to complaints received indicating presence of contamination on the surface of pericare wipes pro ...", "distributionPattern": "Worldwide - U.S. Nationwide distribution including in the st ...", "reportDate": "2026-09-16", "state": "GA"}
]

Limits

• Weekly data, not live news. The FDA publishes the enforcement report weekly and a recall appears only after the FDA has classified it. A recall can be in the news before it is here.
• Status is as first published. The FDA does not update it in this data, so an old recall can still show Ongoing. Use terminationDate when it is present. The FDA can also correct or extend a recall later, so run again to refresh.
• Not for medical decisions. The FDA says this data is not meant for public alerts. Check the product and the company at fda.gov before you act.
• One row per product. A recall event with five products gives five rows that share an eventId.
• Request limits. Without a key openFDA allows 240 requests a minute and 1,000 requests a day per IP address. The actor makes about three requests a second and each request carries up to 1,000 recalls, so a normal run uses a handful of requests. Apify runs share IP addresses, so in rare cases the day's allowance may already be used up and the run stops with a clear message. You can add your own free openFDA key in the optional apiKey field.
• Up to 10,000 recalls per run. Results are saved one at a time. A test run of 1,000 recalls took about two minutes, so 10,000 take about 20 minutes. The default time limit is one hour; if a run reaches it, it stops cleanly and keeps what it has. For a bigger pull, split the search by reportDateFrom and reportDateTo.
• Search is by phrase. searchTerms looks at the product description and the reason for recall only; use recallingFirm for company names. Spelling must match the FDA's text.
• Annotation fields are partial. brandNames, activeIngredients and the other openFDA annotation fields are set only for some drug recalls. In test runs they were missing on every device and food row.
• Source text is passed through. The FDA's own text sometimes holds a replacement character where an accented letter was. The actor does not change it.
• Coverage. Products under FDA authority. Meat, poultry and egg products belong to the USDA and are not in it.

FAQ

How much does it cost to scrape 10,000 recalls? $10, plus $0.001 for each run.

Do I pay for compute or proxy on top? No. Platform usage is included in the $1 per 1,000 price. The openFDA API is read directly, so no proxy is used.

Where does the data come from? From the openFDA drug, device and food enforcement endpoints, run by the US Food and Drug Administration. No key and no login are needed.

How far back does it go? The FDA describes the data as publicly releasable records from 2004 to the present. Use reportDateFrom and reportDateTo to choose a period.

How do I get only the most serious recalls? Set classifications to ["Class I"]. Class I means the product can cause serious harm or death.

How do I watch for new recalls? Run it once a week on a schedule with reportDateFrom set to a week ago, and use recallNumber to drop ones you already have. The FDA publishes the report weekly.

Is it legal? The actor reads public data only, with no login. The FDA publishes this data for anyone to use. How you use it is up to you: follow the source's terms and the law where you live.

Is this an official FDA product? No. It is an independent tool. It reads the FDA's public openFDA service, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FDA or the US government.

Do I need an Apify account? Yes. Actors run from an Apify account, and a free account is enough to start: it includes $5 of platform usage every month. You can sign up here. This is a referral link and it costs you nothing.

Is there a limit on the free plan? Yes. A run started from a free plan account delivers the first 10 results, then ends with a message and a link to the plans. Any paid plan returns everything you ask for, up to your own limit. The price per result is the same on every plan.

More from The One Dollar Store

Every actor here costs $1 per 1,000 results, platform usage included. See the whole store: https://apify.com/one_dollar_store

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• NIH RePORTER Scraper: US NIH research grants and awards.
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• FDA 510(k) Scraper: Cleared medical devices with applicant and date.

Changelog

• October 2026: first release.